Wait, What?
by jbn42
Summary: Alicia gets an object lesson in the meaning of percentages, namely that a three to four percent chance of something happening isn't the same as a zero percent chance of something happening.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Post-finale, another installment in my series of Wash/Taylor fics, though all that's really needed to be known from those is that Wash is alive and now married to Taylor. Starting with chapter 3, this will build off of certain plot points of _A Phoenix By Any Other Name_, specifically as they relate to how Wash escaped death and later escaped the Phoenix Group - this story started as a baby fic, but it is actually far more than that, thanks to my muse. **Story is already complete, was previously published on LiveJournal. **

**Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.**

"Alicia."

She feels someone nudging her shoulder, but the bed feels far too good for her to pay attention. In fact, she just burrows into her pillow as if no one had spoken. She feels a weight drop onto the bed next to her, and then someone, she assumes it's Nathaniel, nudges her shoulder again. "Alicia?"

"Crap," she thinks, realizing that he sounds worried and that she needs to respond. "What?" she asks, her voice muffled by her pillow.

"Are you OK? You usually beat me waking up, and we need to leave for perimeter check." As he speaks, his hand brushes through her hair, moving it out of her face.

She blinks and rolls over to look at him. "What time is it?"

"Sun will be up in less than twenty."

Out loud this time, she mutters, "Crap," making him chuckle. She pushes up on her elbows shoots him a dirty look, but her head feels fuzzy and her body heavy. She hasn't felt this exhausted in longer than she can remember.

How she feels must show on her face, because concern immediately clouds his eyes. He reaches up and puts his hand to her forehead. "Alicia, you feel warm to me."

She shakes her head. "I never get sick."

"And yet, your feeling warm seems to contradict that." He raises an eyebrow at her. "Take the day off, Alicia. Sleep for a while longer, then go see Elisabeth later."

"Don't be silly, I'm fine. I can be ready to go in a few minutes." She tries to struggle out of bed, but he puts his hands on her shoulders and shoves her back down into the pillows.

"I can turn that into an order, Lieutenant. Don't make me."

She relaxes, glaring at him and crossing her arms across her chest. "You know, some would call threatening your wife like that a little rude."

He laughs. "I must have missed that day in charm school. Enjoy your day off, Alicia. And go see Elisabeth. I'm not making that part an order, by the way, but I'm going to tell Elisabeth to be expecting you later this morning." He leans down and kisses her forehead.

She swats him away with her hands. "That's playing dirty. Elisabeth won't leave me alone if you tell her I'm not feeling well."

"I know." He grabs her hands and holds them down with his. When he has her restrained, he leans down and drops a kiss on her lips. "Just humor your overprotective husband. Please, Alicia?"

She sighs in defeat as he releases her hands. "That's playing even dirtier. You win. I'll go see her."

He smiles. "Thank you. Go back to sleep, Alicia."

"OK. Love you." She turns back over and snuggles into her pillow, loathe to admit to him that he's right, she needs to sleep more.

He runs his hand through her hair. "I love you too." His weight lifts off the bed, and she falls back to sleep before she even hears the front door open and close.

When she wakes up again, she can see light streaming through the blinds on their bedroom window. She rolls over and looks at the clock, and she's stunned to see that it's almost 10. She sits up on the edge of bed, becoming frustrated when she realizes that she still feels tired.

She drags herself to the shower, and that does revive her somewhat. She still doesn't feel like herself, and if she's honest with herself, she's felt off for a few days now. But this is the first day that she's been tired like this.

After she eats a piece of toast and drinks a glass of water in the kitchen, she heads to their room to get dressed. She pulls on a t-shirt and a pair of comfortable cargo pants, and, pulling her hair back in a ponytail, she heads out to the infirmary.

When she gets there, even that brief walk left her feeling more tired than before. She looks around, and not seeing her, she asks a nurse where Elisabeth is. The nurse points Alicia towards Elisabeth's office, and a moment later, Alicia is knocking on the door frame, the door to the office already open.

Elisabeth looks up from the plex pad she's reviewing. She waves Alicia into the office. "Well, there you are, Lieutenant. I was about to call you. Your husband was quite concerned about you when he came by this morning."

Alicia drops into a chair in front of Elisabeth's desk. "I'm fine, Elisabeth. I'm just here to humor him. I'm just a little tired."

Eyeing her critically, Elisabeth says, "You don't just look a 'little tired,' Alicia. You look exhausted."

"Not you too, Elisabeth." Alicia rolls her eyes, but Elisabeth just gives her a stern look. "Fine. Run all the tests you want. You'll see."

Elisabeth nods, and she stands up, beckoning to Alicia to follow her. They head to a private exam area, and Alicia climbs up on the biobed. After several minutes of scans, she hears Elisabeth mutter, "That's odd."

Alicia furrows her brow. "What's odd?"

Elisabeth shakes her head. "It's probably nothing. One more scan and we're done." A moment later, Elisabeth makes a humming sound. "All done, Alicia. Come back to my office with me. There's something we need to discuss."

Alicia can't help but feel worried all of a sudden. "Elisabeth, what's going on?"

"My office, Alicia. Now."

Elisabeth leaves the exam area, Alicia hot on her heels. When they get to Elisabeth's office, Elisabeth points to the chair and sits down on the edge of the desk. Alicia closes the door behind them, and she sinks into the chair Elisabeth indicated.

"Seriously, Elisabeth, you're scaring me here. What is wrong with me?" Alicia can't help the note of irritation that has crept into her voice.

Elisabeth frowns a little. "Nothing." Alicia starts to argue, but Elisabeth cuts her off with a wave. "Alicia, when was your last period?"

"What?"

"Your last period, Alicia. When was it?"

Alicia blinks, trying to remember. "It started around 5 weeks ago, Elisabeth. It's always been light and irregular since I've been on the birth control injections." A thought suddenly occurs to Alicia. "Crap, Elisabeth, I haven't had my shot in months. I need to get that before I leave today."

"I'm afraid it's a bit late for that, Alicia." Elisabeth gives her an unsure smile, as if she doesn't know if her news is good news or bad news.

"What does that mean?" Elisabeth cocks her head at Alicia, an incredulous look on her face, and a light suddenly goes on in Alicia's head. She feels panic flood her, and she starts shaking her head rapidly as she whispers, "No. No, Elisabeth. That isn't possible. I can't be pregnant. You've read my chart, my history. You know I can't…" Alicia stops talking and starts taking short, panicked breaths, tears forming in her eyes.

Elisabeth sits down in the chair next to Alicia and takes her hand. "Alicia. Your chart says it's unlikely. It does not say it's impossible."

Alicia just sits there blinking. "But what about the damage to my uterus, Elisabeth? Won't I miscarry?" She pauses, trying to calm her breathing and fight back the tears. Her voice drops to a whisper again. "I never wanted to get pregnant, not knowing I'll probably lose it."

"Oh, Alicia." Alicia looks up, expecting pity but instead seeing understanding on the doctor's face. "It's not a guarantee that you'll miscarry. And I personally think your earlier doctors' assessments, that 'three or four percent chance' nonsense and such, were far more conservative than called for."

Blinking again, Alicia stares at Elisabeth. Before she can stop them, a couple of tears escape, leaving her feeling mortified that she's crying in front of Elisabeth, even though she considers Elisabeth a friend. She takes a deep breath. "You think it might be OK?"

Elisabeth nods, handing Alicia a paper towel to use as a tissue. "I do. The last scan I ran on you was an obstetrical scan. While there is precious little to see right now, at 5 weeks, what I could see looked on track. And the scan showed that your hCG level is over 2000 and your progesterone is in the 20s. Those are good numbers. I'll just want you back here in a few days to check them again and to re-scan you."

"Is there anything I need to avoid, anything I need to do?" Alicia feels her breathing finally calm down, and she is now going into medic mode.

"Do you take the multivitamin we distribute for women?"

"I do."

"OK, that has most everything you need, but I have a pre-natal supplement for you to start taking instead." At Alicia's nod, Elisabeth goes on, "I'm going to want to see you for weekly scans, Alicia. And no more sparring with the soldiers. Most physical activity is fine, but nothing that involves the regular possibility of blows to your midsection. Just listen to your body. Rest when your body demands it. "

"Fair enough, Elisabeth. We can come up with a story for the sparring." She looks up at Elisabeth. "I don't want to tell anyone until I'm at least 12 weeks, Elisabeth, including your husband."

"I respect that, Alicia, and Jim will not hear it from me. But, I will warn you, given that he's been around me through three first trimesters, when more symptoms start kicking in, probably in a week or two, he may sort it out." Elisabeth gives Alicia an apologetic look. "He is a cop, after all. Observation is one thing he actually is pretty good at."

Alicia sighs. "Understood. And what about going OTG?"

Elisabeth hesitates. "I'd like to tell you no more until you deliver." At Alicia's death glare, she hastily adds, "But I won't. For now, you're fine to go, but I'd prefer you stay to the south, away from the Badlands, and by extension, away from the Phoenix Group soldiers, and stay to areas where we don't think there will be heavy predator activity."

"I'm going to need you to back me up on that with Nathaniel, you know?"

"I know." Elisabeth smiles. "One thing, Alicia. With your history and current condition, I do doubt you'll make it to 40 weeks." Alicia looks alarmed, and once again, Elisabeth hastily adds, "I just mean we're going to set a goal of about 37 weeks. That's probably a more reasonable expectation than 40. But honestly, if we can get you to 32 or later, it's good, and if we can get you to 35, it's perfect and that's the real target. I'll only be truly concerned if it's earlier than 26 weeks, though. Anything 26 weeks or later, and I can work with it, Alicia."

"I'm going to end up on bed rest, aren't I?" Alicia sounds miserable at the thought.

Elisabeth shakes her head. "Not necessarily. It just depends on how things go, Alicia."

"OK." Alicia takes a deep breath and rises from her chair. "I have to go tell him."

Elisabeth stands up too. "Let me go get your vitamins. Also, starting next week, I'd suggest that you keep a snack and some water handy at all times. The best way to avoid feeling sick is to avoid letting your stomach get empty. When you feel hungry, eat. Trust me. Now, I'll get the vitamins and meet you at the front."

Alicia nods, heading out of the office. She leaves the infirmary, standing on its front porch. A moment later, Elisabeth joins her, handing her a bottle of vitamins, which Alicia quickly pockets. "Do you think he'll take it OK, Alicia?"

"We're about to find out." She taps her comm. "Nathaniel?" He responds quickly, and she says, "Are you busy? I need to come and talk to you." He responds that he's not. "OK then, I'm on my way. See you in a few." She turns to Elisabeth. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck." Unbidden, Elisabeth then reaches up and hugs Alicia, whispering in her ear. "By the way, Alicia, congratulations. You're going to be a wonderful mother, you know."

At that, Alicia has to blink back tears again. Stupid hormones. "Thanks, Elisabeth."

Just a couple of minutes later, Alicia is climbing the stairs to the command center, heading for Nathaniel's office. When she gets there, he's alone, so she locks the door behind her. When she faces him, he has a funny look on his face. She rolls her eyes. "Mind out of the gutter, Nathaniel. I'm here to talk, and I need us to have privacy for this."

His brow furrows and he crosses the room to her in just a couple of strides. "What's wrong, Alicia? You're sick, aren't you? What did Elisabeth say?" As he speaks, he pushes her towards one of the chairs at the conference table.

She shakes her head as she sits. "Nathaniel, sit down please." He does so without argument, proving to her that he's pretty worried. "I'm not sick."

"You're not? Then what's wrong? Why are you so tired? You've been pushing yourself too hard, haven't you? Between keeping an eye on the outposts and working with the soldiers, you've worn yourself out. We just need to look at your workload and maybe push some things down." He jumps back up and starts to actually pace.

Her eyes widen as he goes on and on. Clearly, he spent the entire morning sitting here thinking about this. She can't decide if she finds that endearing or irritating. If only because it's the path of least resistance, she settles on endearing. Either way, though, she needs to make him stop talking, not always the easiest thing to do, especially when he's worried or has run across a problem to be solved. She decides to go with a direct attempt to cut him off.

"Nathaniel!" Her attempt has the desired outcome. He stops talking and stands still, looking at her. She stands up and walks to him, placing one hand on his chest and looking up at him. "I'm tired because I'm, well," she takes a deep breath, "I'm tired because I'm about 5 weeks pregnant."

Judging by the look on his face, that is about the last thing he expected her to say. He simply freezes, standing there staring at her.

"Nathaniel?" She starts to wonder if she needs to get a chair closer to him, just in case he goes down.

He blinks. "Wait, what? You're…"

She nods. "Pregnant."

He goes silent again, and it's starting to worry her. All of a sudden, though, it seems to sink in. One corner of his mouth starts to quirk into a smile, and he steps forward, wrapping her up in a huge bear hug. Her arms automatically go around his neck, and he straightens up, lifting her feet off of the floor.

She emits a surprised squeak when he picks her up, and he immediately puts her down again, looking contrite. "Are you OK? I didn't hurt you, did I? You need to sit back down."

Reaching up, she cups his face with her hands. "Nathaniel, calm down. I'm OK. You definitely didn't hurt me, you just surprised me. And I don't need to sit."

"Well, I do." He covers her hands, still on his face, with his. Taking them, he pulls her with him to the chairs they just vacated, and he sits down after releasing her hands. She drops into the other chair, curling her legs under her.

"I'm not going to ask you how this happened, Alicia." She snorts at that. "But, honestly, aside from the obvious part, how _did_this happen?"

She gives him a sheepish look. "I've always been on the birth control shots, but after I…died and came back, I just forgot to go to Elisabeth and get it when it was due. Apparently, my ability to actually get pregnant wasn't quite as negatively impacted as my doctors back in 2138 thought it was."

"But?"

She sighs. "There isn't _necessarily_a ' but.' Elisabeth is going to monitor me closely, and I have to go in every week. She doesn't think I'll make it to 40 weeks, but she isn't worried yet. The real goal will be for me to make 35 weeks. Anything beyond that will be a bonus."

Looking up at him, she can almost see his mind rearranging duty rosters and such. "Stop it."

He looks back at her, startled. "Stop what?"

"Stop figuring out how to bench me, Nathaniel." He opens his mouth to argue, but she doesn't let him. "I already talked to Elisabeth about what I have to stop doing and what I don't. I have to stop sparring with the guys, and she wants my OTG trips limited to the lower-risk locations – nothing towards the north and the Badlands, and nothing into known predator territory. Otherwise, I'm just to listen to my body and rest when I need to."

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, because your history of that is so good. And I don't want you OTG at all. As of now, you're grounded."

"No!"

He shakes his head. "Consider it an order, Alicia."

"No, Nathaniel. You cannot ground me. Not yet."

"This isn't up for discussion, Lieutenant," he nearly growls at her.

"Damn it, Nathaniel, I am not going to let you do this to me." She knows she should've expected this reaction, but she didn't expect him to pull rank on her.

He narrows his eyes at her. "If you won't look after yourself, I guess I'll just have to do it for you."

At that, she recoils almost as if he had slapped her. Feeling the hormone-induced hot tears pricking at her eyes, she just stands up and walks out, ignoring his demands that she stay.

She leaves the command center and slips into the crowd at the market, not looking back once. She heads straight for her favorite place for solitude, an unmanned guard tower on the east side of the colony. She only stops long enough to buy a snack and some water in the market.

Getting to the guard tower, she climbs the steps quickly, hoping to avoid being spotted. She sits down on the floor of the tower, leaning back against the wall and drawing her knees to her chest. Accepting that her raging hormones and the hurt she feels in her heart aren't going to cooperate, she drops her head to her knees and lets the tears come in earnest.

**WT**WT**WT**

If Alicia had looked back, she'd have seen him trying to follow her, only to be stopped by a rather irate-looking Elisabeth Shannon. The much smaller woman steps in front of the very irritated looking Commander. "What the hell did you say to her?" He may be mad, but he doesn't have anything on Elisabeth.

"Let me by, Doc."

"No. You will leave her alone until you calm down. She's already upset, and she doesn't need to be more upset." He blanches at that, and Elisabeth takes his arm and forcibly drags him into the infirmary and into her office. Shutting the door behind her, she orders, "Sit."

Much to her surprise, he obeys. She stands in front of him. "Commander, I don't know what that was about, but I know that the last thing you want is to hurt her. Sadly, if her face as she passed the infirmary is anything to go by, you've already done that."

"All that happened was a discussion of her duties in light of her condition." It sounds weak, even to his own ears.

Elisabeth spots that as well. "Really. A 'discussion of her duties' made her leave the command center in tears? She may be hormonal, but she's not _that_hormonal, Commander."

He winces at the mention of Alicia crying. "I may have grounded her and said that I'm going to take care of her if she won't take care of herself."

"Damn it, Taylor, that is the worst thing you could have done, and it's not even necessary. She can continue most of her duties as usual. I'd even go so far as to say that she needs to, both for her sanity and for her to be able to keep this quiet until she's further along."

"Why does it need to be kept quiet, Doc?"

He seems honestly confused at that, and she takes pity on him. "Taylor, the vast majority of miscarriages occur in the first trimester, the first 12 weeks or so. She wants to clear that milestone before going public. And she's terrified, Taylor. She didn't say so, but I could see it in her eyes. You need to take it easy on her, and you need to let her set the pace for changes. I already set limitations. Did she not tell you about those?"

He has the good grace to look embarrassed. "She did. I just didn't react very well."

Elisabeth pats him on the shoulder. "You're going to have to relax. She's going to be anxious enough for the both of you. And you can never say anything again that even vaguely sounds like she isn't putting your child's health and viability above everything. Quite honestly, if I hear you've done that again, I may actually hunt you down and beat you with an IV stand."

He laughs then. "Yes ma'am. Now, do you know where she was going, Elisabeth? I'm sure it was somewhere other than home."

She thinks about it for a moment. "There's a guard tower on the east perimeter that's usually unmanned. I've been there with her before. She may be there."

"Thank you, Elisabeth." He stands and turns to go.

"Commander?" He turns back to her. "Congratulations."

With a small smile, he ducks out of her office and is gone.

**WT**WT**WT**

Alicia hears the clomp of boots on the stairs to her little haven, and she knows it's him. The hurt she felt at his earlier words sits in her chest like a hard knot, so she can't help but tense up and protectively wrap her arms tighter around her legs.

A moment later, he appears in the entrance to the tower, and the contrition and worry she sees in his eyes ratchet her anxiety down a notch. She doesn't speak, though, just waits for him to make the first move.

He crosses the floor to her in just a few strides, and he sits down next to her, legs stretched out in front of him. "I'm sorry, Alicia."

She knows that he's never been one to apologize often, and while she appreciates it, she needs to know if he understands why she was so upset before. When she speaks, her voice sounds scratchy and raw. "For which part?"

He sighs. "For all of it, but mostly for hurting you. I know you would never do anything to jeopardize the baby. I'm sorry for sounding as though I thought you would."

Tears come to her eyes again, and she sniffles a little. She can't help the flash of annoyance she feels knowing how pathetic she must sound and look. "Thank you. And about the rest?"

He turns to her, and she looks up to meet his eyes. "We can follow Elisabeth's instructions." She nods. "But Alicia, I've got to put a disclaimer in here. I'm going to drive you nuts. I'm going to worry about you, and I'm probably going to ask you how you are far more often than you'll be strictly happy with. So, I propose that we make an agreement here."

She gives him a tentative half-smile. "I'm listening."

"I promise that I will let us follow Elisabeth's direction on this, including your ability to do certain tasks and go OTG." He looks at her for agreement, and at her nod, he goes on, "And you promise to be patient with me when I am overprotective and worried, and when I'm getting on your nerves asking questions, trying to make you take it easier, and just generally being a pain in your ass."

She huffs out a laugh at that last part. "OK, Nathaniel. Those terms are acceptable."

Hesitantly, she scoots a little closer to him and drops her head to his shoulder, and she feels him relax and let out a breath. As he wraps his arm around her, pulling her even closer, she realizes how bad he'd probably felt about upsetting her.

They're silent for a moment before he offers, "You'll be happy to know, too, that Elisabeth yelled at me. She also threatened to hunt me down and beat me with an IV stand if I upset you like this again."

She smirks. "You know, I like her more every day."

"For someone so damned little and generally opposed to violence, I admit it, she's kind of scary."

Alicia laughs softly at that and turns into him more, slipping her arms around his midsection. "You just keep that in mind."

He reaches down and slips an arm under her knees, pulling her into his lap. "I really am sorry for earlier, Alicia. I never want to be the reason you cry."

She curls into his chest, her head back on his shoulder. "It's OK, Nathaniel."

He shakes his head. "No. It's not OK. But I promise it won't happen again."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Nathaniel."

He leans back to look at her, a questioning look on his face. She smiles. "Considering the way my hormones are raging, I may be crying on and off for the next thirty-plus weeks. I'm pretty sure at least some of the time that it's going to be your fault." She feels his laughter rumble up through his chest, and she adds, "Buckle up, baby. It's going to be a bumpy ride."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Post-finale, another installment in my series of Wash/Taylor fics, though all that's really needed to be known from those is that Wash is alive and now married to Taylor. Starting with chapter 3, this will build off of certain plot points of _A Phoenix By Any Other Name_, specifically as they relate to how Wash escaped death and later escaped the Phoenix Group - this story started as a baby fic, but it is actually far more than that, thanks to my muse. **Story is already complete, was previously published on LiveJournal. **

**Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.**

_Three Weeks Later_

It's late afternoon, and Nathaniel gets back from a short trip OTG with Reilly and Dunham. He's surprised when they roll through the gate, because Alicia isn't there waiting for him. Upon entering his office in the command center, he understands why she wasn't there.

He is greeted by the sound of retching coming from the small bathroom attached to the office. He immediately drops his armor on the desk and walks quickly to the bathroom. Opening the door, he sees Alicia on her knees in front of the toilet.

He enters the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He drops to his knees next to her, taking hold of her ponytail to make sure it doesn't end up in the line of fire. A minute or two later, the retching subsides, and she sinks into a sitting position, her back against the wall. He gets up and gets her some water to rinse her mouth, and as he hands it to her, she mutters, "_Morning _sickness my ass."

He chuckles at that as she takes a mouthful of the water and swishes it around before leaning forward and spitting it into the toilet. She sets the cup of water on the floor next to her, pulls her knees up to her chest and drops her head onto them. She lets out a muffled laugh. "If this goes on for another 4 weeks, I'm going to be 20 pounds lighter."

"Don't you have an appointment with Elisabeth in the morning? Maybe there's something she can give you for this."

She shakes her head and immediately regrets it, the motion making her queasy again. "I can ask her, but I hate to take something if it's just for throwing up. It's only been a week or so, and so far, it's only in the afternoons."

"I know, but I really hate seeing you miserable like this." He looks at her, his brow furrowed with worry.

She gives him a game smile and reaches up to cup his cheek with her hand. "I'm OK. This part won't last forever."

He smirks. "You know, I'd kiss you now, but…" He takes her hands and stands up.

She rolls her eyes and lets him pull her to her feet. "Well, you could bring me a toothbrush, couldn't you?"

"I put one under the sink." He grins at her. "I'll be out in the office."

She pretends to kick him as he leaves, and she can still hear him laughing through the door. As she brushes her teeth, she thinks about the last few weeks. After his less than stellar reactions after she first told him about her being pregnant, he has been gentler with her than ever before. Of course, she knows that it's in no small part due to the fact that he fears Elisabeth's wrath.

She rinses her mouth again and then has to smile. The thought of the small doctor having Nathaniel so cowed is pretty entertaining to her. Her smile fades a little as she scrutinizes her face in the mirror.

She still looks tired, even though she's stopped doing workouts with the soldiers and is only walking the perimeter with Nathaniel once a day. There are circles under her eyes, and her now daily bout of nausea has left her drawn and pale.

Putting her hand on her still-flat stomach, she sighs and rubs it gently, and the smile returns to her face. The simple, reassuring motion has become a habit of hers, making her feel better every time she indulges in it. The idea that there is a baby growing inside her is still somewhat surreal to her, but with each new symptom of pregnancy, it feels more real.

The fatigue she began feeling a few weeks ago was only the beginning. The nausea came quickly after, along with bouts of dizziness. Not surprisingly, Nathaniel has been quite enthusiastic about the fact that her breasts have already gone up almost a full cup size. Much to his chagrin, however, they are so damned sore that she won't let him touch them. Her smile grows into a full-blown grin at the memory of the disappointed look on his face when she told him that.

She goes back into the office to find him at his desk, digging through the pile of plex pads she left there, all containing different construction requests from various colonists. She walks over and perches on the edge of the desk. "I'm sorry I wasn't at the gate when you got back."

He looks up. "Well, I think you have a legitimate excuse. It would've been slightly awkward for you to have been throwing up by the gate."

"Only _slightly _awkward?" She raises an eyebrow at him, drawing a light laugh. "Don't you need to leave for perimeter check?"

He shakes his head. "No, since we didn't know when we'd be back, Guz and Shannon are taking it."

"Did they ask why it's not me?" They've told everyone that she's anemic and that Elisabeth has made her cut back her physical tasks until it's corrected. With Elisabeth's blessing, they've used that to cover both her cutting sparring and the afternoon perimeter walk. On days when she feels up to it, she'll still walk part of the afternoon walk with Nathaniel, but not the entire thing. Now, she only does the full walk in the mornings.

"Nope. Neither of them. It looks like, at least for now, that everyone is buying the story." He stands up, looking at her appraisingly. "All minty fresh?"

She snorts. "Kiss me and find out."

With a grin, he leans down to her, catching her lips with his. She slides her hands up his arms and the kiss is deepening when they hear someone clear their throat. They break apart, both looking at the door. Shannon is there, a teasing look on his face. "Sorry to interrupt." His face makes it very clear that he isn't actually sorry at all. "Guz and I were about to head out on patrol, and I thought I'd check in first."

"Thanks, Shannon. Be sure that you and Guz check the far west fence line. We had a crew out there today repairing some damage that looks to maybe have been done by a carno." Nathaniel looks at her. "Can you think of anything else, Alicia?"

She shakes her head. "No. That's all we saw that wasn't in shape this morning."

Shannon nods, and then he gets a shit eating grin on his face. "Well then, we'll be off. As you were, you two."

"Not a bad idea." Nathaniel reaches out and draws her back to him, trying to take her mouth again.

She pushes him away. "Behave, Nathaniel."

"Why? Who am I going to get in trouble with?" He smirks at her.

"With me, Commander Incorrigible. I'm ready to head home to make dinner, and you, sir, are slowing me down." She grins back.

"Lead the way, Mrs. Taylor. Far be it from me to get between the pregnant lady and food."

**WT**WT**WT**

The next morning, as they walk the colony's perimeter, Alicia can't stop fidgeting. After twenty minutes of it, she can tell it's starting to either worry or annoy Nathaniel. "Something on your mind, Lieutenant?"

She jumps a little at the sound of his voice, providing him with even more cause for concern, if the look on his face is any indication. "Sorry, Nathaniel. I'm just thinking too much this morning."

He stops walking, grasping her shoulder and making her face him. "Are you worried about the appointment with Elisabeth?"

She starts to deny it, but she knows he'll see right through her. Hugging her arms around her torso, she looks down at the ground, once again annoyed with herself for the tears she feels welling in her eyes. "She said we should be able to hear the heartbeat this week."

"OK." He uses his hand to tilt her face up to look at him, his face registering surprise when he sees that she's about to cry. "Alicia…"

"What if we can't hear it? Elisabeth said that my symptoms, the fatigue, the dizziness, nausea and such were good signs. I woke up this morning feeling better, and now I can't stop thinking that it means something's wrong."

His face softens instantly into understanding, and he reaches out and pulls her to him. Their respective body armor makes the hug awkward, but she doesn't mind. She wraps her arms around his waist and buries her face in his neck as well as she can. "I know I'm being ridiculous and overthinking everything, but I can't turn it off."

He turns enough to drop a kiss on her forehead. "I know there's nothing I can say that will help, Alicia. But whatever happens, not just today, but for the rest of our lives, I'm going to be standing right next to you holding your hand."

She hugs him tighter, sniffling. "That actually helps a lot, you know."

They stand there silently for a moment, holding on to each other. Then, he says, "Did you just get snot on my shirt? Because that's a little gross."

She huffs out a laugh at that and pushes away from him. He looks at her, smirking, and she says, "I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to take my mind off of it."

"Did it work?" He raises an eyebrow at her.

"Maybe a little."

"Good." He takes her hand, and they resume their walk. "Let's get done with this and get to the infirmary." Despite the fear knotted in her chest, she doesn't argue, just lets him take her with him.

Less than an hour later, she sits on a biobed in a private room at the back of the infirmary, waiting for Elisabeth. Nathaniel stands next to the bed, as promised, holding tight to her hand.

Elisabeth enters the room, and in spite of herself, Alicia tenses up. Nathaniel must notice, because he steps a little closer to her and squeezes her hand. Elisabeth starts rattling off questions, and Alicia answers them all almost robotically, just wanting to get to the scan.

Finally, after about 5 solid minutes of questions, Elisabeth says, "OK, Alicia, why don't you lie back on the bed, and we'll take a look?"

Alicia complies, stretching out flat on the biobed. Nathaniel is clearly reluctant to release her hand, and so she brings their joined hands up and drops a kiss on the back of his hand before giving him a nod and releasing her grip. After a beat, he lets go, and Elisabeth begins the scan.

Almost immediately, the image of Alicia's insides pops up, and Elisabeth nods and points out different things on the image. Then, Elisabeth smiles and touches a button on the side of the biobed. The room is suddenly filled with a fast, rhythmic whooshing sound, and Alicia looks at Elisabeth. She feels Nathaniel reach down and grab her hand again.

Alicia's eyes fill with tears yet again. "Is that…?"

Elisabeth grins and nods. "Strong and steady at one hundred sixty beats per minute."

"And everything looks OK? That rate is good?" Nathaniel is the one to speak up this time.

"That rate is just right, and everything appears to be perfectly normal and on track. It actually looks better than I expected." She looks at Alicia. "You're doing great, Alicia, and so is the baby."

Alicia releases a breath. "Thanks, Elisabeth."

She smiles at Alicia and Nathaniel. "Now you two get out of here. I have actual sick people waiting. I'll see you next week, same day, same time."

With that, she's gone. After the door swings shut behind her, Nathaniel leans down and kisses Alicia. When he pulls away a moment later, he presses his forehead to hers. "You OK?"

She leans away from him and twists up into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. "I'm good." She rubs her hand across her stomach, and he reaches down, placing his hand over hers.

"Good." He smiles and beckons towards the door with his head. "Hungry?"

She grins. "These days? Always." Hopping off the table, she heads towards the door. He follows close behind her, laughing quietly.

**WT**WT**WT**

A few days later, Alicia is returning from a short trip OTG with Shannon, and she is seething. He is blissfully ignorant of both her anger and the cause of it. She knows she shouldn't be angry with him. She knows she's being ridiculous and irrational.

At this moment, however, she doesn't give a damn about being rational, because the son of a bitch sitting next to her in the rover stole and ate the _last_chocolate chip cookie out of her bag. As they roar towards the gate, her terse, one-word replies and cold demeanor must finally sink in, because Shannon asks, "Wash, is everything OK?"

At that, she shoots him a look that could turn fire to ice. Without responding, she looks back towards the gate and revs the rover's engine. They skid to a stop inside the gate, and Alicia is out almost before they stop moving. She tosses the rover keys at Reynolds and shoves her backpack at Nathaniel before stalking off in the direction of the command center.

Reynolds seems surprised, but Shannon is downright puzzled. He looks at Nathaniel, but Nathaniel wisely just shrugs in response and follows her, leaving a confused Jim Shannon by the gate.

When Nathaniel gets to his office, he hears grumbling, water running, and the sound of things being slammed around coming from the bathroom. A moment later, Alicia emerges, still clearly pissed off, but with a clean face and clean hands.

"Alicia, what happened?" Nathaniel is almost afraid to ask. "Did you have a problem delivering Dr. Callahan to the outpost?"

"No. That was fine." She starts pacing the floor of the office.

"OK, then what happened, Alicia?"

She stops pacing and looks at him. "That bastard ate my last cookie."

"Who, Dr. Callahan?"

She gives him a withering look. "No, of course not _Dr. Callahan_." He meets her look with an expectant expression. She huffs out angry breath and almost hisses. "Shannon. Who else?"

He looks at her for a moment. She must look as though she could spit nails, because he immediately stands up and heads for the door. As he disappears through it, though she is still incensed with Jim, she can't help but feel a flash of amused affection for Nathaniel. He's adapted quickly to her flashes of anger over food.

He learned within days to not eat the _last _one of anything. His education had come the hard way, when he had eaten the last of her favorite kind of fruit at home. She knows he'll probably come back with not only cookies, but also with several other kinds of snacks, just in case her cravings have changed.

She settles at his desk to write up a quick report on the trip OTG. As she's finishing, she hears him come back into the office. She looks up, a smile on her face. He has, as expected, a few different bags of food in his hands. She's surprised, though, by the apologetic look on his face as he enters.

A moment later, she understands it when a chattering Jim Shannon follows Nathaniel into the office. Nathaniel flashes her a warning look as he drops the food in front of her on his desk.

Shannon is oblivious. "Wash, there you are. What the hell was going on in the rover today? You were pissed off, and I have no idea why?"

She frowns. "Forget it, Shannon."

"No, I need to know what I did so I don't do it again. Or, you know, so I do it over and over." He gives her a shit-eating grin.

She almost laughs out loud as she senses Nathaniel take a step back towards the wall, but her irritation with Shannon overpowers her humor. "Seriously, Shannon. Forget it." Her voice is almost a growl.

The foolish man laughs. _Laughs_. Her seething kicks up a notch. He must see it in her eyes, because he tries again. "Come on, Wash. Tell me. It can't be that big a deal, or I'd already know what I did."

Her eyes narrow, and from behind her, Nathaniel warns, "Careful, Shannon."

The man really is oblivious. "Not you too, Taylor. What the hell? Is this just irrational anger day here in Terra Nova?"

When she replies, her voice is actually low and dangerous, and she knows she'll regret her ire later. But right now, it feels perfectly justified. "Fine, Shannon. You ate my last goddamned cookie. You just stole it out of my bag. You didn't even ask."

He blinks, and then, incredibly unwisely, laughs again. "That's it? I took a cookie out of your bag? That's all this is about?"

Nathaniel, who had stepped between them just in case, literally drops his face into his palm and mutters, "I warned you to be careful, Shannon. You're on your own now."

She ignores her husband and advances on Jim. "No, you jackass, you didn't take _a_ cookie. You took my _last _cookie." By the time she stops talking, she's inches from the man.

He finally begins to see just how irritated she is, and he takes a step back. He bumps into the conference table, stumbling slightly. "OK then. Sorry about that, Wash. Won't happen again."

She gets right in his face. "See that it doesn't."

He looks like, as the old saying went, a deer in headlights. He stammers an apology and scurries out the door, muttering under his breath about crazy women and cookies.

When the door closes behind him, she hears Nathaniel burst out laughing. She turns on him, glaring. He holds his hands up placatingly. "Hey, I brought you food. On the desk. Remember?"

There's a teasing glint in his eye as he speaks, and she can't help but laugh too. She goes back to his desk and roots through the food until something catches her eye, a box of dried fruit. She begins to pick at it, and he comes over, clearly trying to gauge her mood with his eyes.

After a moment, she says, "I think he may have actually wet himself."

He snorts out a laugh at that, and steals a piece of the fruit from her, earning himself another glare. She starts to say something, but she stops when she hears boots pounding on the stairs to the command center. They both look worriedly at the door. Seconds later, a winded Shannon reappears.

He enters the office, closing the door behind him. Before either of them can ask him what's going on, he looks straight at Wash and says, "You are not anemic! You, my friend, are pregnant!"

Her mouth drops open in shock. He crosses his arms and gives both her and Nathaniel a knowing look. At that, she drops her head, knowing she can't argue with him. "Shit."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Post-finale, another installment in my series of Wash/Taylor fics, though all that's really needed to be known from those is that Wash is alive and now married to Taylor. This is where the building off of certain plot points of _A Phoenix By Any Other Name _begins, specifically as they relate to how Wash escaped death and later escaped the Phoenix Group. **Story is already complete, was previously published on LiveJournal. **

**Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.**

_Fourteen Weeks_

Alicia is sitting in "her" unmanned guard tower on the east perimeter, watching the sunrise. Nathaniel is OTG, so, preferring these days to not do the perimeter walk without him, she has Reynolds and Reilly doing it this morning.

She is supposed to see Elisabeth this morning for her weekly check-up, but she hates to go without Nathaniel. She shakes her head at the thought. It's odd to her. She's never been like this before, so dependent on him emotionally, so dependent on his presence. Intellectually, she figures that it's some sort of instinct, at least in part a need to feel safe. Certainly, there isn't anyone or anything that can make her feel safe more than Nathaniel does.

As much as she loves him, though, the dependence frightens her. In all the years they have been together, she has never needed his mere presence the way she does now. His absence makes her nervous, and she doesn't really like that at all. She won't tell him, of course. If she did, he'd likely stop going OTG, and she knows that's not the right thing, neither for them nor for the colony.

Her thoughts turn to the colony. She's 14 weeks along now, and she knows they'll have to start thinking about going public soon. As it is, Shannon bugs her about it almost daily. He has kept the secret, but she knows it's killing him to do so. The good news is that she is doing far better than even Elisabeth expected. The scar tissue from both her shooting back in Somalia and the subsequent infection she ended up with haven't yet been as problematic as they anticipated.

Absently, she rubs her hand across her stomach. What was once completely flat is now starting to take on a slightly rounded shape. It's not noticeable when she's in uniform, but Nathaniel's new favorite thing is tracing her ever-changing body with his hands.

She sighs and stands, arching to stretch her back before heading down the stairs of the guard tower. She's due at the infirmary in fifteen minutes, so she knows she needs to get going.

As she walks towards the center of the colony, she smiles to herself; at least the worst of the first trimester symptoms are gone. She still gets tired far more easily than she cares to admit, but at least the dizziness and nausea are, for the most part, gone. She can still get vertigo from certain motions, but it's far less frequent.

As Alicia makes her way into the market, she hears her name being called. She looks up to see Boylan heading towards her at a brisk pace. She walks over and meets him. "What's going on, Boylan?"

"Our friends in the Badlands are reaching out, Wash. They said they have something to tell us, but wanted either you or the big man there. I told them I'd get one of you. They're due to call back in ten." He motions with his head towards his bar.

Alicia nods and follows him, activating her comm as she walks. "Elisabeth, this is Wash."

A moment later, Elisabeth responds. "Alicia, is everything OK?"

"It's fine, Elisabeth, but something came up that I need to handle. I'll have to be by later today for my checkup." Alicia notices that Boylan appears to be listening intently, and she curses inwardly.

"All right, Alicia. I'm here all day today, so just come by when you can."

"Thanks, Elisabeth. I'll see you later." She deactivates her comm and continues to follow Boylan.

A moment later, he asks, "Is everything OK, Wash?" She simply raises an eyebrow at him, hoping to avoid this conversation. "You have a checkup with Elisabeth today, but I saw you coming out of the infirmary last week and a few weeks ago, always on Wednesdays. What's going on?"

"It's nothing, Boylan." She picks up the pace, thinking the sooner they talk to their Badlands spies, the sooner she can get away from him.

"Really. 'Nothing?' Nothing that requires apparently weekly checkups with our friendly neighborhood doctor?" Both his voice and face are incredulous.

"Leave it alone, OK? I don't want to talk about this." She shakes her head and gives him a hard look.

"Well, is Taylor aware that something is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong with me, Boylan, and all of this is none of your damned business." She's starting to feel cornered, and she doesn't like that one bit.

They've arrived at his bar by now, and it's clearly deserted save for them. He returns her earlier hard look. "Nothing is wrong, but you go to the infirmary once a week? What, is it a social call?"

She should have known that Boylan wouldn't let it go. She decides to try intimidation, her voice going low and dangerous. "I'm serious, Boylan. Drop this."

"Wash, that voice doesn't work with me. I've heard you use it way too many times on your little soldiers. I don't intimidate easy, and you know it. I figure I can just ask Taylor, or maybe, yeah, maybe I can ask Shannon." She'd rolled her eyes when he mentioned asking Nathaniel, but when he says he may ask Shannon, she winces involuntarily.

"Ah! Sore spot found. I'll just be looking our good sheriff up after we chat with Mira." He gives her a wicked grin.

At that moment, they hear the communicator that Boylan has crackle to life. "Mira to Boylan. Boylan, do you copy?"

As they sit down at the bar, Alicia gives Boylan a strange look. Until today, they've used code names when talking. "Mira, this is Boylan. I'm here, and so is your favorite Firebird."

She takes the communicator from Boylan. "Mira, what's going on?"

"Hey, Wash." Alicia furrows her brow. "We've bolted and we're en route to you. All of us. It's a long story, so for now, I'll just say things got way too hot for us with Phoenix and that the likelihood of getting home seems to be rapidly dropping to nil."

"Mira, how far out are you, and how many of you are there?" Alicia wants to wrap this up, as she needs to call Nathaniel back to the colony now.

"Two dozen or so of us, and we'll be there in two or three days. I'll check in again once we're close."

Alicia suddenly notices a note of exhaustion in Mira's usually quick and edgy speech pattern. "Is everyone OK, Mira? Do we need to meet you with medics? And are you being followed?"

Mira actually sighs into the communicator. "We're all right, Wash. We'll probably have a few folks needing attention when we arrive, but it's nothing that won't keep. And as far as we can tell, no, no one is chasing."

Alicia is silent for a moment, meeting Boylan's eyes. He's clearly hearing the fatigue in Mira's voice as well. "OK, Mira. Be careful, and check in this time tomorrow?"

"Will do, Wash. And thank you. See you soon. Mira out."

As the connection terminates, Boylan shoots Alicia a questioning look. "Don't we need to make sure with Taylor that it's OK for them to come here? Or did you two already decide that?"

Alicia nods. "The latter, Boylan. We were pretty much set from day one that we'd let them back. We'll have to keep a close eye on them, monitor outgoing communications carefully and all that, but as far as Nathaniel was concerned, they were pretty much golden after protecting me and helping me get home. That said, I need to get to communications to call him home, now."

She stands up, but it seems she does so too quickly. The room spins around her for a moment, making her sway on her feet and grab the bar for balance. Boylan, always observant, notices, and he reaches out to steady her, his hands on her upper arms.

"That's it, Wash. I've seen you drunk off your ass but still completely steady on your feet. What the hell is going on?"

She tries to pull away from him, but he just tightens his grip. Her eyes narrow at that. He removes his hands, holding them up, gesturing for a truce. When he speaks again, his voice is softer, concerned. "Wash, look. Clearly, something is off. I'm not fishing for gossip. I'm worried about you. Taylor and I may not see eye to eye, but you I like, especially after everything with those Phoenix bastards and Lucas. If you're sick, you should be off your feet."

Sighing, she runs her hand across her eyes. After a moment of warring with herself, she realizes that Boylan will be a good test case for reactions to the news. "Boylan, I'm not sick." She pauses, hesitating. He starts to speak again, and she interrupts him, just blurting out, "I'm pregnant."

Boylan's eyes widen, and he sits down hard on a bar stool, staring at her. She can't stand the silence, so she tries to fill it. "I'm just now fourteen weeks, not really showing at all yet, so we've been keeping it quiet. Only Jim and Elisabeth Shannon know right now. We were going to see how things are at my checkup today. If everything is OK, we were going to start sorting out how to announce it."

He blinks. "But why every week? I didn't think women needed to see the doctor that much early on?"

"Boylan, I'm not going to give you details here, but suffice to say that I suffered some wounds back in Somalia that could prove troublesome down the road. We're keeping a very close eye on me and on the baby." She sits. "Please keep this to yourself, Tom. When we tell people, we want it to be on our terms."

He nods, and then a funny look crosses his face. "If Lucas finds out, he's going to go even more nuts than he already is."

"Yeah. He will. I won't pretend that doesn't scare me, either." She frowns a little, unconsciously dropping her hand to her abdomen, her shoulders tense.

"Alicia, the secret's safe with me, and for the record, I think it's great news, for you and for that old bastard you married." She nods and gives him a small, grateful smile. "Now you need to go summon that husband of yours, tell him to get his ass back here. We have to sort out what the hell we're going to do with over 24 new people."

"We?" She arches an eyebrow at him.

He chuckles. "Well, just knowing how much Carter drinks, I'm going to have to start stocking more bourbon."

She grins at that. "OK, Boylan. I'm going to go call Nathaniel. If we need to meet when he gets back, we'll contact you."

"Sounds good, Wash. Take care of yourself and congratulations." He gives her a mock salute and a smile, and she heads out.

She goes to command, to the communications room, and asks the soldier on duty to radio the OTG team. A moment later, she hears Nathaniel's gruff voice over the comm, asking what they need. Alicia takes the radio mike from the soldier, and she motions with her head for him to leave the room. When the door closes, she says, "Nathaniel, it's me."

"Alicia, what's wrong? Did something happen at the infirmary this morning?" His voice is immediately alarmed.

She shakes her head, even though he can't see it. "No, no, I haven't even been to see Elisabeth yet. I was headed that way when Boylan found me. Mira called."

"OK," he drawls, "That's unscheduled. What's up?"

She takes a deep breath. "She and the Sixers left the Phoenix Group camp. They're heading here now, about two dozen of them, and they should be here in two days or so. She's going to check in with us again tomorrow morning to let us know about their progress."

He lets out a low whistle. "Damn, that's sooner than I expected. The scientists here will be done within the hour. If we push it hard, we'll be back in before sundown. Get Guz and Shannon, we need to meet with them tonight, then with a few others tomorrow to figure out how we want to play this."

"OK." She pauses. "Nathaniel, I had to tell Boylan."

"Tell him what?" He sounds confused.

She looks around, confirming that the soldier hasn't returned to the room. "I had to tell him about the baby."

"Why? What happened, Alicia?" He sounds concerned, not angry, which makes her feel better.

"It was nothing, really."

His tone is warning. "Alicia."

She sighs. "He heard me tell Elisabeth I'd be late to my appointment, and he'd already seen me coming out of the infirmary a few times. And, well, I almost fell in his bar."

"What? What happened?" Now he's back to alarmed, as he had been when she first called him.

"Nathaniel, calm down. I just stood up too fast and got a little dizzy. I'm fine now, but he was pretty freaked out. He's definitely not used to seeing me unsteady, and with that on top of the infirmary visits, he was worried. So, I told him. He promised not to say anything to anyone."

"He damn well better not," he growls, his protective tone making her laugh quietly. Then, his voice softens. "You sure you're all right?"

She smiles. "I am, and I'm going to see Elisabeth now. And yes, I'll tell her about the dizzy spell, though I'd guess that her direction is just going to be to stand up more slowly."

"OK. Let me know if anything changes, both with the Sixers or with you, Alicia." He has his stern, Commander voice on now, and she can't help but smile again.

"Yes, sir."

He snorts. "Don't patronize me, Lieutenant. I'll see you tonight."

She laughs. "See you tonight, Nathaniel. Be careful."

"Will do. Love you."

"Love you too, Nathaniel. Terra Nova out." She clicks off the mike and opens the door to let the soldier assigned there back in. With a nod, she leaves the room to head over to the infirmary, her hand unconsciously going to her stomach again. She catches herself before she gets to the market and drops her hand to her side, knowing there are people there, women in particular, who would spot the gesture and know what she was doing.

She laughs a little, thinking that the morning's excitement has at least taken her mind off of her visit with Elisabeth. This is the first time she's had one of her appointments without worrying herself almost ill beforehand. As she enters the infirmary, she mutters, "Glass half-full," under her breath.

**WT**WT**WT**

Several hours later, just before dusk, Alicia stands near the gate, waiting for the OTG group to arrive. She hears the rovers approaching, and after looking to confirm that it's safe, she orders to soldiers to open the gate.

She can tell Nathaniel's at the wheel of his, given how it skids to a halt not far from her. Poor Reilly is probably at the wheel of the other, forced to keep up with him and his breakneck pace. As expected, a moment later, Nathaniel emerges from the driver's side of the rover that stopped near her, and a rattled-looking Reilly climbs out of the other rover.

Nathaniel hands the rover and the scientists over to a private near the gate. Once he gives the young man instructions, he turns, heading straight for her. When he gets to her, he gives her a quick kiss, one of the few things she has agreed to let him do in terms of PDAs. He murmurs, "I missed you."

She smiles at him. "I missed you too."

He throws his pack over one shoulder, and he grabs her hand, heading them towards home. She gives him a questioning look, knowing they need to meet up with Guz and Shannon at the command center in an hour. He grimaces in reply. "I need a shower. One of the scientists spilled something on me. I don't know what it is exactly, except that it's really sticky."

Laughing, she lets him drag her with him. When they get home, he immediately starts shedding things, armor and boots first, followed by his uniform. As he drops things, she picks them up, putting his armor on the table for now, and gathering his clothes for when one of them does laundry.

She doesn't follow him into the bathroom. She knows he'd try to pull her into the shower with him, and they don't have time for that right now. He emerges ten minutes later wearing only a towel around his waist. She waits for him in their bedroom, where she has fresh clothes and boxer shorts laid out for him.

When he drops his towel, she gives him a leer. He grins and starts to advance on her. She shakes her head and hands him his boxers. As she passes by him to go to the kitchen, she leans up to him and nips at his earlobe. "Later tonight."

He pops her on the rear as she walks away. "I'll hold you to that."

She gives him a suggestive smile before she leaves the room. "I'm counting on it." She can hear his chuckle behind her, making her grin again.

She's waiting for him in the kitchen when he comes out. Since they have almost half an hour before they have to head to the command center, she has pulled out some fruit and cheese as a snack. She's perched on a chair at their kitchen table, and he drops into the one next to her, reaching out and taking her hand. "How was your appointment with Elisabeth?"

It warms her a little to have him ask about that before they go into anything about Mira and her people. She entwines her fingers with his and squeezes his hand. "It was fine. All is still OK so far."

"What did she say about your little dizzy spell?" He raises an eyebrow at her.

She sighs. "She said it was probably me just getting up too fast, but I'm to call her if it keeps happening. I think I was just hungry; I hadn't had any breakfast yet when it happened."

"Alicia…" He gives her a worried look.

"Nathaniel, I had just gone out to my guard tower to watch the sunrise. Even when you're not here, I wake up in time for the perimeter walk. We just didn't have anything here that I wanted to eat. I'd planned to grab something in the market after my appointment with Elisabeth." She squeezes his hand again. "It wasn't on purpose."

At that, he pulls her to him in a hug. "I know that. Remember me, you have to be patient when I worry too much."

She nuzzles his neck and smiles. "OK. Patient I can be. Now, we need to go meet Guz and Shannon."

Once they're on their way to the command center, he finally asks about the call from Mira. "So, how did she sound, Alicia? The last several calls, she's sounded strained."

"It was worse today. Today, she just sounded tired. I'm thinking she may have some stories for us when she gets here." She takes his hand.

He sighs. "You mean stories about Lucas, don't you?"

"I do. She didn't really say anything specific, but she did allude to the fact that she thought the chance of getting home was dropping to nil. I took that to mean he's struggling, and I doubt that's much fun for anyone."

They get to the command center and climb the stairs together. When they get to the balcony, they stand there, looking out over the colony. After a moment, he says, "We're going to have to have soldiers keeping an eye on them, make sure they're on the up and up."

"Two on Carter."

He laughs. "Good point. We'll let Guz sort that out." He pauses, and then asks, "When are we going to tell everyone, Alicia?"

She gives him a confused look, before realizing that he's not talking about the Sixers anymore.

Reaching out, she takes his hand and places it on her stomach. He rubs back and forth. "I'm not trying to push you, but it's just going to start getting harder to hide soon, you know?"

She nods. "I know. I'm just scared, Nathaniel. Scared it'll jinx it or something."

He hugs her to him again. "Alicia, it won't."

"We can't know that. And I'm worried how people will react." She presses her face to his neck.

"How did Tommy react?"

She smiles in spite of herself. "He was happy for us, but he also pointed out the one other thing I'm worried about, that if Lucas finds out, it could get even nastier."

He squeezes her to him and then releases her slightly, pressing his forehead to hers. She feels bad at the pain she sees in his eyes. He's clearly aware of that, and he shakes his head. "Alicia, until very recently, there wasn't much I wouldn't do to try to make things right with my son. But my priorities have changed. If he wants to do anything to hurt you, and, by extension, the baby, he's going to have to come through me."

"Nathaniel, I'd never ask you to choose like that, and you know it."

"I know you wouldn't. That's part of why I love you so damned much. But the choice, for me, is already made. He forced me to make it when he tried to kill you and then me. He made it very clear that our relationship is unsalvageable, that _he _is unsalvageable. I hate myself a little bit for feeling that way, but I can't help it. I'm done, Alicia. I can't try anymore, not when he's so willing to attack everything I love out of nothing but anger and spite." He leans down and presses his face into her neck this time.

There is little she can say, so she simply offers, "I'm sorry, Nathaniel. I truly wish things were different."

"I know you do." He sighs again and straightens up. "Come on, let's go in to wait for Guz and Shannon. We've got a lot to figure out and not much time to do it."

She nods. "Never a dull moment around here, is there?"

"Nope, but at least we don't have to worry about it getting boring." He grins and pulls her towards his office. "Now, let's go see if we can find something to do until Guz and Shannon show up. Maybe something involving my desk."

She laughs and gives him a wicked smile. "Sounds like a plan, sir."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Post-finale, another installment in my series of Wash/Taylor fics, though all that's really needed to be known from those is that Wash is alive and now married to Taylor. Builds off of certain plot points of _A Phoenix By Any Other Name_, specifically as they relate to how Wash escaped death and later escaped the Phoenix Group. **Story is already complete, was previously published on LiveJournal. **

**Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.**

_Twenty Weeks_

"Damn it." Alicia's voice is muffled as she roots through the clothes in the closet. "Damn it, damn it, damn it."

She hears a low chuckle, and she looks up to glare at Nathaniel. He's in the doorway, leaning against the frame, arms crossed and an amused smirk on his face. "Having trouble this morning, Alicia?"

She huffs out a frustrated breath. "None of my bras that fit are clean. I'm looking for my sports bra."

He reaches above her head and grabs something. "This sports bra?" He continues to smirk at her.

Nearly growling at him, she takes it and stalks past him out of the closet. She gets to the bed where she has her other clothes set out and tosses her bra onto the pile. She whips off the t-shirt she's taken to sleeping in, one of his because nothing else fits properly, over her head. She knows he's watching her now as she stands there in nothing but her panties.

Turning to look at him, she raises an eyebrow at him when she catches him staring. "Can I help you, Nathaniel?" He blinks a few times, and she can't help but smile at his obvious distraction. She finds his fascination with her body these days to be highly entertaining and also endearing and bittersweet after his explanation that he missed so much of Ayani's pregnancy because he was off at various military actions for most of it. "Nathaniel?"

He shakes his head and crosses the room in a few steps, his arms wrapping around her from behind. He pulls her back against his chest and drops a kiss on the side of her neck, one arm coming to rest across her breasts – which, no longer sore, he's once again allowed to touch – and the other across her still relatively small but obviously pregnant stomach. He smiles against her neck. "No, I'm good."

She turns in his arms and leans up to press a kiss to his lips before giving him a gentle shove away from her. "Hands to yourself. I need to get dressed, or we won't get out of here before the sun comes up."

He chuckles. "Yes ma'am. I'll be waiting in the living room, because if I stay here, I won't be able to keep my hands off of you."

She rolls her eyes and turns back to the bed. After putting on her bra, she pulls on the new maternity fatigues and t-shirt made for her by one of the women who work in the market. They'd worked together to come up with clothes that fit her and still looked like a uniform. She was the first member of the military here to become pregnant, so they didn't have any former uniforms from the future to go on.

Her only real complaint is that she can no longer comfortably tuck her shirts in. The compromise they came up with was t-shirts that had room for her growing belly but still were relatively fitted. As her pregnancy continues, she knows she might eventually need to wear looser tops, but for now, she's good with her longer, fitted t-shirt. The fatigues had been simpler. They'd just taken some regular fatigues, a size larger than she usually wears, and added a stretchy material at the waistline.

She straps on her thigh holster, which amazingly still fits perfectly, and pulls her hair into a ponytail. After she slips her gun into the holster, she turns to check herself in the mirror. She only has admitted to Elisabeth how much she enjoys her rather odd appearance, the armed pregnant woman. The looks she tends to get in the market and other public areas never fail to give her a small laugh.

After running a quick hand over her belly, she nods at her appearance and heads to the living room to find Nathaniel. He's there on the sofa, reading reports on a plex, her boots sitting on the floor next to his feet. She drops down next to him and leans down to pull her boots on, emitting a small, "Oof," as she bends over her stomach.

Next to her, she hears him laugh. "So, how long before I have to do that for you?"

She finishes tying her boot laces before she sits back up and takes a deep breath. "I really hate to admit it, but it may not be that long at all." There are some things she still fights him on, including the perimeter walk they're about to take, but on other things, she has definitely decided that pride is overrated.

He stands up from the sofa and extends a hand to her. She makes a disapproving noise, but she still takes his hand and lets him pull her to her feet. He laughs at that, and they head for the door.

About halfway around the perimeter, they pause for her to drink some water. Her willingness to take one short break during their walk is the one condition that both Elisabeth and Nathaniel demanded of her as she gets further into her pregnancy. She begrudgingly agreed to it.

As she takes a drink of water from the bottle she now carries with her, he says, "So, next week, we're going to start having someone else walk with us every morning."

She swallows the water, almost choking on it. "What?"

He cringes a little at her tone, and she takes more pleasure than she should in knowing that he's a little bit afraid of her these days. "Alicia, if something happens while we're out here, as your mobility decreases, we might need help holding off whatever it is. You may not want to admit it, but you've already slowed down a little."

Her glare at that is deadly. "Really. I've slowed down, have I? If you don't trust me to handle myself…"

"Alicia," he cuts her off, "You know that's not it. You know I trust you implicitly. But you also know that your body is going to react a little more slowly than it usually does. That's not a criticism, it's just a fact. And if something happened to you or the baby while we were out here, I'd never forgive myself."

She sighs. "You really are the king of playing dirty, Nathaniel."

He grins. "Just one of the many things you love about me, I'm sure." At her snort and eye roll, he turns serious again, cupping her cheek with his hand, his eyes pleading with her to go along with him on this. "I just need you safe, Alicia. I know you hate the way people have been so solicitous since we went public with your pregnancy, but it's not out of disrespect. You know it's because they care. It's a testament to you and what you mean to the colony, not a question as to your capability."

She blinks and looks down, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes. When she sniffles a little, he uses his hand, still on her face, to force her to look at him. His expression is chagrined at the sight of her tears, but she just shakes her head, not wanting him to think she's upset with him. "God, I've turned into such a damned _girl_. All it takes is you saying something nice, and I become a weepy mess." She gives him a watery smile. "And OK on adding someone to the perimeter walk, but only if it's Reynolds, Reilly, Guz or Shannon. Anyone else would bug me."

He nods and uses his thumb to wipe away the few tears that escaped from her eyes. "I figured that. Those are the folks I had in mind to assign. Well, I hadn't thought of Shannon. Doesn't he annoy you most of the time?"

She shrugs. "For whatever reason, his irritating personality has become more palatable to me. Must be the hormones."

He laughs, and they start walking again. As often happens, they drop into a companionable, comfortable silence, keenly aware of each other and their surroundings, but still lost in their own thoughts. Her mind wanders to the day they'd gone public with her pregnancy, five weeks ago.

Nathaniel, in his usual style, wanted to call a meeting, go up on the balcony and announce it to the assembled colonists. She vetoed that idea immediately, as the very thought of it made her uncomfortable. One of their biggest differences in personality is her low-key nature versus his love of a big splash.

In this case, he had let her take the lead. They told a handful of people, all from various walks of life within the colony. In large measure, they were the same people who had known about her relationship with Nathaniel prior to it being common knowledge. Between telling Guz, Reynolds, Reilly and Malcolm and turning Boylan and Shannon loose with the news, word spread throughout the colony like a wildfire.

Within days, Alicia was sure she'd been congratulated by everyone in the colony, and, much to her dismay, hugged by many. Nathaniel had clearly gotten a small amount of perverse pleasure from her discomfort with some of the colonists' more enthusiastic displays, openly laughing when she was cornered by Maddy Shannon and Skye and Deborah Tate to discuss the damned _theme_ for the baby shower. For his clear enjoyment of her facial expressions during that conversation, he spent a night banished to the sofa.

The reaction that surprised her the most, though, came from Mira. At the same time they went public with the news, the Sixers, just returned to the colony from the Phoenix Group camp, were just getting settled into things here.

Mira sought her out after hearing the news from Boylan. Nathaniel was OTG on an emergency supply run to an outpost, so Alicia was in his office going over construction requests from various colonists. At the light knock on the door frame, Alicia looked up, surprised to see Mira standing there. "Mira, come in."

She nodded and entered the office. "Wash, just heard your news, from Tom. Was he telling the truth?"

Alicia cleared her throat. "If he told you I'm pregnant, then yes. He told you the truth."

Grabbing a chair from the conference table and dragging it over, Mira parked herself in front of the desk. "Tom said you're fifteen weeks." At Alicia's nod of confirmation, Mira continued, "Guess you got busy not long after your return from the dead. You know this would make Lucas even more batshit crazy, right?"

"Mira, it's not like it was planned. Not that it's any of your business, but I just forgot to get my birth control injection after I got back. And, I honestly didn't think I'd ever get pregnant either way, because of injuries I sustained during the war in Somalia." Not knowing why, Mira's questioning made Alicia feel defensive. "As for Lucas, well, yes, we know it will make him nuts if and when he finds out. But there's nothing to be done about that, now is there?"

Mira held her hands up in a conciliatory manner. "I'm not criticizing. If anything, I'm jealous as hell. I miss my daughter more than I ever thought possible. I was just coming up to see if there's anything I can help you with." Alicia must have looked puzzled, because Mira explained, "I imagine it's not easy to be so visible and to have to appear to be so tough and unruffled when you're pregnant. I've just been trying to sort out a role for myself here, and I was wondering if there is anything military that I can assist with, and in particular, anything I could do that would occupy me and help you out at the same time."

"Mira, I really do appreciate it, but I don't know. Military?"

She looked down at her hands, her shoulders dropping. "Wash, at this point, there aren't many ways I can be useful. I've been a guerilla, a fighter for so damned long that I don't really know how to be anything else. I know you and Taylor are wary, but I can be of use. What else can I do? Tend bar for Boylan? How long do you think I'd last before beating the hell out of some drunken piece of shit for trying to cop a feel?"

Alicia snorted out a laugh at that. "OK, Mira. I can talk to Nathaniel and Guzman. Maybe we can figure out a place for you, but even if we do, you need to understand that you'll be subject to the chain of command, duty rosters and all of that. We won't bust you down to private or anything like that, but you'd likely have to report to me or to Guz. And I doubt seriously that you'd be commanding anyone else anytime soon. In particular, you know we feel the need to be very careful to not concentrate too many of your people in one area of the military, since several have already been folded into the units."

"I can live with that, Wash. And I haven't had the chance to thank you for that, for allowing them to join up. They just want to help defend this place. It's the closest thing we've all had to a real home in a while."

"Honestly, Mira, we see it as a bonus to us. We got to add to our military and security forces, and the people added have a knowledge of one of our most significant threats, not to mention reasons for not liking them at all. It was a no brainer." Alicia gave Mira a game smile at that point.

"Alicia? You OK?" Nathaniel's voice breaks through her reverie.

She blinks at him. "Yeah, sorry, Nathaniel. My mind was just wandering."

"You looked pretty serious." He raises an eyebrow at her. "What were you thinking about?"

"Mira and the rest of the Sixers. I still can't believe the kind of operation those Phoenix bastards are running."

He nods. "I admit I was surprised to hear about what happened before Mira pulled her people out of there."

"I know. I mean, I told you what I saw when I was there, that it was clear that the Sixers had been relegated to a sort of second class citizen status, but to allow a soldier to assault a young woman with no repercussions was unbelievable, even given the vibe I sensed there."

Alicia refers to the event that Mira and Carter had recounted to them back when the Sixers returned to the colony. Mira said that it had already become clear that Lucas was clearly having little to no luck on the portal and was slipping deeper and deeper into madness. They also were very uncomfortable with the structure of the camp. They were, on a good day, treated like the hired help, and both Mira and Carter had been chafing under it.

Then, one of the younger female Sixers was assaulted, almost raped, by a Phoenix Group soldier, and the leaders refused to even punish the son of a bitch. That same night, the Sixers simply packed up and left.

Mira and Carter told them that they'd considered trying to re-establish their camp in the woods, but they ended up recognizing that their diminished numbers could hurt them, along with their loss of some support from the future. Six weeks later, most of the Sixers have assimilated well into the colony, several into the military and security teams.

Carter refused to report directly to them, so he works with the construction crews. According to the man he reports to, he's actually quite good at the work. He has behaved thus far, but neither Alicia nor Shannon has forgotten the day when he nearly killed Nathaniel inside the colony gates. Until they both feel certain they can trust Carter, there will be a guard on him. Carter knows, and he's clearly entertained by it.

Nathaniel slips his hand into hers as they continue to walk. It's something he rarely does when they're on duty, but she finds herself enjoying it this morning. "So, how is Mira doing with having to report to you?"

She smirks. "So far, so good. And I have to admit, she makes valuable contributions. Making her a tactical consultant for security and for the military was a good idea. She's good at it. She's been able to give Malcolm some insight into what Lucas was doing, too, at least what she could follow."

He squeezes her hand. "Malcolm updated me on that yesterday. He seems to think that the chance of finding another portal that goes back to our own time stream is pretty close to zero."

"That's what Mira said when she and I met yesterday as well." She looks up at him and grins. "And, by the way, I think it's a good thing you have her reporting to me and not Guz."

He looks puzzled. "Why is that? Are they not getting along?"

She shakes her head, still grinning. "No, they're getting along. In fact, I think they're getting along _really_ well."

He chuckles. "Ah. Well, that should keep things interesting around here. Maybe Shannon will even leave us alone if there's a new pair for him to gossip about."

As he speaks, they get back into the populated area, and he drops her hand. They certainly aren't hiding anything anymore, but they do try to maintain a professional appearance when on duty. Even so, his hand moves protectively to her lower back, something he only started doing when she became pregnant.

She secretly enjoys the light pressure of his hand. He guides her through the market area, just starting to get set up for the day, to the infirmary. It's the day for their weekly visit. Though they haven't talked about it, Alicia has finally decided that she's willing to find out what she's having.

She knows that Nathaniel is dying to find out. He hasn't pushed her on it, though. Early on, she told him she wanted to wait a while before finding out. The biobed scans can show the baby's gender very early, but she was already so attached to the baby from the start, she was worried that knowing what the baby is would make it even harder if she lost it.

These days, though she still worries about it, at least it isn't on her mind every minute of every day. As they enter the infirmary, though, she feels the familiar knot of anxiety forming in her chest. He must sense it, because his hand slides from her lower back to her hip, squeezing gently. They spot Elisabeth and head for her, and five minutes later, they're in their usual exam room.

Once Elisabeth has run all of the scans, she smiles. "Everything still looks good, Alicia. My only concern is that it looks like you're becoming a little anemic. We can adjust your vitamin supplement to address that. Have you been feeling more tired lately?"

Alicia shakes her head. "No, I feel fine, Elisabeth."

"OK, well, I need you to indulge me here. I know you're still doing resistance training four or five days per week in the evenings. I want you to cut that to no more than three days per week, especially since you're still doing the perimeter walk every morning." Elisabeth uses what is now a very familiar tone to deliver the message, and it's a tone Alicia knows better than to try to argue with.

She just nods. "I can do that, Elisabeth." She rolls her eyes a little as she feels Nathaniel give her shoulder an approving squeeze.

"Good. So, is this the week when you let me tell you what you're having?" Elisabeth raises a questioning eyebrow at them.

Nathaniel looks down at her, and she gives them both a hesitant nod. Elisabeth smiles. "Any thoughts as to what it is?"

Alicia is having a little trouble finding her voice. Nathaniel must sense it, because he answers for them. "Well, Doc, I think it's a girl and Alicia is convinced it's a boy."

"Hmm," Elisabeth hums and grins a little, looking at Alicia. "Well, my dear, he's going to be insufferable, because he's the one who's right."

Alicia blinks. She looks up at Nathaniel, whose face is a picture of pure happiness. She gives him a weak smile and turns back to Elisabeth. "A little girl?" Her voice is barely a whisper.

"A little girl, Alicia." Elisabeth smiles again, and despite usually respecting Alicia's boundaries, Elisabeth steps forward and gives Alicia a hug. "Congratulations." She squeezes Nathaniel's arm and leaves them alone in the small exam room.

"Alicia?" He sits down next to her on the bed. "Are you OK?"

She nods. "Yeah. I'm just, just…Nathaniel, who is going to teach her the girl stuff?"

He laughs at that and hugs her to him. "Whatever you can't sort out, I'm sure Elisabeth and her girls will help, Alicia."

She leans back from him, smiling. "We had a deal on naming her, didn't we?"

He grins. "Yep. I get to pick her first name, you her middle, would've been the opposite if she'd been a boy."

"But we both have veto power, right?"

"Right." He tips her face up to him. "I'm hoping you won't need it, though."

She gives him a questioning look. "You already have something in mind?"

His face turns serious. "I do. What do you think about calling her Grace?"

She freezes, stunned. "After my mom?" He just nods, and tears come to her eyes. She takes a deep breath. "I'd love that, Nathaniel. Thank you."

He leans down and presses a soft kiss to her lips. "You're welcome. So, what about her middle name? Have you thought about it at all?"

She nods timidly, a little nervous now. She has had something in mind for this since they agreed that she'd pick the middle name for a girl, but she isn't sure how he'll feel about it. "I have. I know what I'd like it to be, but I want you to know that I definitely want you to veto it if you are uncomfortable with it."

He furrows his brow at her. "I'm sure I'll love it, whatever it is, Alicia."

She shakes her head a little. "I'm serious, Nathaniel. I want you to tell me if it doesn't work for you." Finally, he gives her a quick nod. She bites her lip as she hesitates. He's clearly about to encourage her to tell him, so she just offers her choice quietly. "Nathaniel, I'd like her middle name to be Ayani."

This time, he freezes. She looks up into his eyes, and she can tell she shocked him. "I was serious, Nathaniel, if you aren't comfortable with it…"

He doesn't let her finish, instead leaning forward and kissing her. When he pulls back from her a moment later, his eyes are wet, something she hasn't seen from him in a very long time. "Are you sure, Alicia? You don't have to do that."

She nods. "I'm sure, and I know I don't have to do it. It just feels right to me, but I need to know if it feels right to you."

"Grace Ayani?" He gives her a tentative smile.

"Grace Ayani Taylor." She smiles back.

"Gracie?" He offers, his smile becoming a little wider and more certain.

She grins then, throwing her arms around him and tucking herself against his body. "Perfect."

A while later, they emerge from the infirmary, both grinning like fools. As they walk towards the command center, their euphoria is broken when both of their comms crackle to life. Simultaneously, they tap them, saying their names. It's Shannon, calling both of them.

"Wash, Taylor, we have a problem at the command center."

They look at each other, alarmed, and increase their pace heading towards Nathaniel's office. When they arrive, Jim and Guz are both there, but they are surprised to see Carter standing there too, his hand gripping the collar of a man dressed in what is clearly a Phoenix Group uniform.

When they look at him, Carter is wearing a scary looking smile, and he pushes the prisoner to his knees. "Hey Wash, hey Taylor. Brought you a present."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: ** **Story is already complete, was previously published on LiveJournal. **

**Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.**

_Twenty-Six Weeks_

Alicia stops pacing and looks at her watch. Nathaniel and the rest of the group that is OTG running quick guerilla raids on Phoenix Group units is due back this afternoon, and it won't be soon enough for Alicia. She's anxious every time Nathaniel leaves, though she knows he needs to be out there. She peers out the window of Nathaniel's office in the command center, looking towards the gate. After a moment, she sighs and resumes her pacing.

Since the day six weeks ago when Carter caught a Phoenix Group spy trying to slip in under the fence, they've been running the raids. It had been a lucky thing; a crew including Carter had been assigned to do repairs to the very place in the fence where the spy tried to break in. The rest of the repair crew didn't see him, but Carter, one of the better scouts Alicia has ever known, spotted and subdued him before dragging him to the command center.

Alicia isn't sure what Carter threatened the man with, but five minutes in a cell in the brig with Carter and Nathaniel, and he was singing like a damned canary. With Lucas' lack of progress, the Phoenix Group had decided that they might be interested in attempting to retake the colony. According to the spy-turned-songbird, they were going to try to use small units to make runs at the outposts, take them one by one, and advance on the colony from there.

There were only two big problems with that plan. The first was that the spy gave up the order in which they planned to take the outposts and the size of the teams the Phoenix Group would be sending, giving Nathaniel and his team a significant tactical advantage. The second was that they failed to take into account their lack of supplies and their lack of ability to obtain supplies, or, for that matter, reinforcements.

Over the last six weeks, Nathaniel's small strike team, consisting of Mira, Guzman, Reilly and Dunham, has already taken out well over a dozen Phoenix Group soldiers, a serious dent in their numbers. Mira and Carter gave them estimates as to how many total soldiers they had, and Alicia knows that the strike team has dealt the Phoenix Group a crippling blow.

At first, they considered multiple strike teams, but Nathaniel ended up eliminating that as an option. He said that he refused to leave the colony vulnerable again. Standing at the gate to see them off on their first run, the déjà vu was a little too pointed for both of them. They had hung on to each other for quite a while at home that morning, knowing that they'd have to put on a brave face at the gate. Even so, she knew it had nearly killed him to leave her.

Shannon and Reynolds stood there flanking her, looking like watchdogs, as Nathaniel climbed into his rover. Before Nathaniel walked away, Shannon held his hand out. When Nathaniel took it, Shannon said, "No one will touch her. Not this time, not if I'm still breathing." Reynolds nodded his agreement, also shaking Nathaniel's hand. Those gestures from Mark and Jim seemed to give Nathaniel the strength he needed to leave.

A year ago, even a hint that she needed to be protected in such a manner would have made her angry and downright hostile. Right now, though, she has never felt more vulnerable in her life. She cares little for her own safety; it's the baby's safety that consumes her thoughts and leaves her willing to accept the offered protection.

While Reynolds insists on sleeping on her sofa every night when Nathaniel is gone, in an interesting turn of events, the one who seems to look after her the most is Carter. When the spy was found, Carter quit the construction detail. He went to Guz and asked to work security. When Guz came to her and Nathaniel endorsing the idea, they signed off on it. While he might be vaguely untrustworthy and not nearly so vaguely insubordinate, Carter's clear hatred for the Phoenix Group won their agreement.

Now, when Nathaniel is OTG, Alicia finds herself almost constantly accompanied by Carter when she's walking home from the command center, going to buy lunch in the market, or any other time when she'd usually be alone. It made her nervous at first, but as she slows down more and more, it has become oddly reassuring.

Some time during the strike team's second trip OTG, Alicia asked Carter why he was following her and keeping an eye on her. His response had simply been that he had no intention of letting either Lucas or the Phoenix Group destroy the colony.

When she'd given him a confused look, he'd explained, "Taylor _is_the damned colony. As much as it bugs the shit out of me to admit it, without him, this place isn't the same. It isn't as strong. And as a race, I'd say we need this place to survive. I'm guessing that if something happened to you or to your baby, he would not be OK."

The team has been out over a week this time. Until they called in last night to let them know they were returning today, they hadn't been heard from for over three days. Those three days were, in a word, horrible for Alicia. She's been worried sick, so much so that Elisabeth threatened to strap her to a biobed and give her IV nutrients and a sedative so she'd get some sleep.

At that moment, Alicia feels a kick. She stops pacing again and drops her hand to her stomach, rubbing lightly. "Daddy will be back soon, Gracie."

"Talking to yourself, Wash?" She looks up to see a smirking Carter in the doorway to the office.

She just ignores his question. "Can I help you, Carter?"

He comes into the office, still smirking. "Nope, I'm good. Just thought I'd hang around here and bug you until Taylor gets back."

"Oh, joy of joys. The only thing that would make this better would be if Shannon showed up." She rolls her eyes and drops into the chair behind Nathaniel's desk.

As if on cue, she hears Shannon's voice. "Did I hear my name?" He enters the office as Carter sits on the edge of the conference table laughing at her.

"What do you need, Shannon?" She's sure her voice is beginning to sound a little bit impatient.

"I know they're headed back, and I thought you might want company." Shannon gives Carter a dirty look. Carter crosses his arms and looks just as surly. They may have developed a begrudging respect for one another, but they definitely do not like each other.

"Play nice, boys." Alicia can't help but smirk as she chides them both. They ignore her, staring each other down like a couple of junkyard dogs. She rolls her eyes and grumbles under her breath, "I swear to God, if either of you start pissing on things to mark your territory, pregnant or not, I will kick your asses."

Carter snorts at that, and Shannon shakes his head. "You do know she's serious, don't you, Carter?"

She looks up at Carter, fixing him with a glare. He holds his hands up. "Oh yeah, I do know that, Shannon. And I know she could do it, too."

Before she or Jim can reply, her comm crackles to life. "Reynolds to Washington."

She taps her comm. "Go ahead, Reynolds."

"They're coming in, Wash. They should be at the gate in about two minutes."

"Copy that, Reynolds. I'm coming down." She closes the comm link and rises. Knowing Shannon and Carter will follow her, she heads out of the office and down the stairs of the command center.

As expected, the two men follow close on her heels all the way to the gate. When she gets there, she spots Mark and heads over to him. He nods to her. "They're here. Was about to give the order to open the gate."

She gives him a tight smile, anxious to see Nathaniel. "Go ahead, Reynolds."

"Yes ma'am," Reynolds looks up and calls to the guard on the tower, "Open the gate."

The gate lifts just as the strike team's two rovers approach. They both skid to a stop inside the gate, and after a moment, the team slowly climbs out of the rovers; Nathaniel, Reilly and Dunham out of one and Guz and Mira the other. The latter pair makes Alicia smirk a little, but she also feels happy for Guz. Her friend has been alone too long, as far as she's concerned.

They all are dirty and clearly exhausted, but when her eyes meet Nathaniel's, he seems to brighten visibly. He walks straight to her and wraps her in a tight hug, pressing his face into her neck. He smells pretty ripe, but she doesn't mind. She can't help teasing him, though. "Good thing I'm not so sensitive to smells anymore. A few months ago, this hug wouldn't have ended well."

She feels him snort out a laugh at that, and he pulls back to look at her. "Trying to tell me something, Wash?"

She grins and raises an eyebrow at his use of a name she hasn't heard from him in a while. "Yes, dear. I'm trying to tell you that you really, really stink."

He laughs and returns her smile, stepping back from her. She knows he did so to allow her to look him over for injuries, and that's exactly what she does. Her eyes catalog each scrape and bruise, and she relaxes when she sees that none of them look serious. When her eyes go to his again, she can see amusement in them, but also fatigue and relief at being home.

When it's clear she has finished giving him a once over, he steps closer to her again and drops a hand to her stomach, rubbing over the ever-growing bump. She covers his hand with hers and softly says, "See Gracie, I told you Daddy would be back soon."

He smiles at that before leaning forward and dropping a quick kiss to her lips. He rests his forehead against hers. "We need to debrief."

As she looks at him, she realizes that she can't remember the last time she saw him this tired. Looking at the rest of the team, they don't look much better. She frowns. "Nathaniel, can't it wait until tomorrow morning? You all look exhausted."

He begins to protest, but as he looks over at the others, he appears to see what she sees. She can see him struggle with the decision for a moment, and she certainly won't argue with him if he thinks it's necessary to meet now. After a moment, he looks back to her and gives her a small nod.

He turns back to the team, as well as to Shannon, Carter and Reynolds, who are all standing nearby. "We've got a lot to discuss, but it'll keep until tomorrow morning. Reilly, Dunham, Guz, Mira, good work this week. Go get some rest. We'll all reconvene in my office, tomorrow morning, zero-eight-hundred."

Alicia isn't surprised to see the team react with relief to Nathaniel's order. They all nod, grab their gear and head out. She has to smile a little when she sees Guz take one of Mira's bags as they head off in the direction of his quarters, which are in the opposite direction from hers.

She jumps when Nathaniel's voice sounds right next to her ear. "Those two are like teenagers."

Turning to him with a smirk, she shakes her head. "Good for them."

He shoulders his pack and a second bag of gear, thwarting her attempts to help him with it. In a testament to how tired he is, he completely ignores their usual boundaries while in public, taking her hand and entwining their fingers as they walk towards home.

When they get inside, he unceremoniously drops his bags by the door, making her laugh. "Shower, Nathaniel. Then food, then sleep. Go." She points to the bathroom.

He narrows his eyes at her, and she raises an eyebrow at him, daring him to argue with her. He tries to stare her down, but she doesn't blink. He eventually relents, smiling a little as he leans forward to drop a kiss to her forehead. "Yes ma'am."

Less than an hour later, she is propelling him towards their bedroom after he nodded off twice over dinner. Once she has him in the bed, she goes to pull the covers up over him, but, eyes already closed, he reaches out and grabs her wrist, pulling her down next to him. "Stay."

"Nathaniel, I need to go clean up the kitchen and then check in with Reynolds." She tries to pull away from him, but he won't let her go.

"We can take care of the kitchen in the morning, and Reynolds will be fine." He opens his eyes to look at her. "And you look almost as tired as I do. Stay, Alicia."

She is silent for a moment, but then she nods. "OK, but not yet." He starts to protest again, but she stops him. "Nathaniel, I'm going to go make sure the door is locked and then go to the bathroom. Your daughter is sitting on my bladder, and I won't last twenty minutes before I'd have to get up. But I promise I'll be right back."

He chuckles at that. "Fair enough." He releases her wrist.

She pauses and runs a hand through his hair, still damp from the shower, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his temple. "Sleep, Nathaniel." She rises and quietly leaves of the room. After checking the door and using the bathroom, she can't resist making a quick side trip to the kitchen to put away the food from dinner. In a concession to him, she doesn't bother doing the dishes, just stacks them in the sink to take care of in the morning.

She turns the lights off and returns to their room, stripping down to her panties and throwing on one of his t-shirts. She slips into bed next to him, curling up on her left side. Immediately, as if he'd been waiting for her, he shifts to lie on his side behind her, pulling her back flush to his chest. As his hand slips down, coming to rest on her stomach, he growls, "You cleaned the kitchen, didn't you?"

She laughs softly and covers his hand with hers. "Only partway. I left you the dishes." At that moment, the baby kicks hard under their joined hands.

"See, even our daughter disapproves." He kisses the back of her neck. "Lucky for you I'm too tired to devise an appropriate punishment for the insubordination."

She snorts. "Good night, Nathaniel."

He pulls her tighter against him. "Good night, Alicia."

It's only moments later when she feels his breathing deepen as he falls asleep. She sighs, and it's not long before she follows him into sleep, completely relaxed for the first time in a week.

**WT**WT**WT**

The next morning, they're gathered around the conference table in Nathaniel's office. The five members of the strike team are there, along with Alicia, Shannon, Reynolds and Carter. Nathaniel just finished running through a recap of their last week, of their attacks on two more Phoenix Group units, resulting in bringing the total number of dead Phoenix Group soldiers to at least two dozen.

"You only ran into two units?" Carter raises an eyebrow.

Mira is the one to answer in a deadpan voice. "Yes, Carter. Only two."

Nathaniel gives the two of them a look, and they go silent while wearing smirks on both of their faces. "It looks like they finally figured out that their strategy wasn't working all that well. Amazing to me that it took six damned weeks for them to reach that conclusion, but I'll take it."

Shannon looks around the table. "So, what next?"

Nathaniel looks at Reynolds. "What does the recon team in the Badlands have to report?"

Mark swallows, clearly a little intimidated. He's used to briefing Alicia directly, as opposed to larger groups, particularly not groups including both Nathaniel and his girlfriend's father. She catches his eye and gives him a small, encouraging nod. He nods back, looking more relaxed. "Sir, the team did report that it looked like the units that left last month have been straggling back in. They also reported that it looked like there's some confusion down there."

Mira looks at Mark. "Did they elaborate?"

"Yes, they said that the drills they'd do both morning and night have stopped, and that, for the most part, the soldiers just seem to be standing around. Almost like they have nothing to do now and no idea what to do next – that last part is direct from the call we got the day before yesterday." Mark gets more confident sounding as he goes on, making Alicia smile a little.

Nathaniel cuts in, "They're still in place, correct?"

"Yes, sir." Mark nods, going to stiff attention.

"OK." Nathaniel looks over at Alicia, giving her a questioning look.

She knows what he's thinking. "Reynolds, when the recon team checks in this afternoon, tell them we need to go to daily check ins. We also need details. Nothing is unimportant. Just tell them to make note of everything they see, and report it back."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I want eyes on my son, too, Reynolds. Every day. Make sure they know that." Alicia cringes internally at the mention of Lucas, and her hand goes protectively to her stomach as Nathaniel looks around the table. "Reilly, Dunham, Reynolds, you're all dismissed." The three younger soldiers all nod and vacate the office.

The room is silent for a moment before Shannon speaks up. "So what next? They must be regrouping to figure out their next move."

"I'm sure they are." They all turn to Mira. "We know they had limited supplies. Between that and losing over twenty soldiers, they've got to be getting a little scared. They had a lot riding on Lucas opening another portal. Supply wise, given their reduction in numbers, Carter, what do you think they have left? Four weeks? Maybe a little more if they've managed to catch and kill some dinos for food?"

"Even then, I'd say six to eight weeks, tops." Carter scowls. "And their leadership is the biggest group of arrogant bastards that I've ever seen. They're probably deeply delusional about their chances of retaking the colony."

"So, you still think they'll make a run on it?" Guz asks.

"Absolutely," Mira jumps back in, "I don't think they have a choice. It's going to be that or starve to death. They're just not equipped, supply-wise or any other way, to deal with life here. From what I could tell in the few command meetings of theirs that I was invited to, they never contemplated staying here permanently, certainly not without a constant source of supplies and fresh personnel. I don't think they even spent much time learning about the local wildlife or plant life."

"Wash, you're being awfully quiet. What do you think about all this?" She looks up to see Nathaniel eyeing her.

"We've pulled all the supplies stored at the outposts, correct?" Guz and Nathaniel both nod, as they'd done so during the tactical runs. "Well, then it seems clear to me that they're going to come at us and come at us hard when they do. I think the number one priority has to be fortifying the fence and guard towers. We need to pull all the work crews off of projects that aren't defense oriented."

Guz speaks up. "I agree, sir. We have a few weaknesses that we need to see to. They were lower priority than some of the building projects, but I think they need to climb the list now."

"OK. Guz, you, Mira and Carter figure out what needs doing and check with Wash to coordinate the work crews. Carter, Mira, not that I think you will be, but don't be shy about identifying anything you think we need to address." The three of them nod, and Guz starts making notes on his plex. "In the meantime, Shannon, you, Wash and I need to sort out any movements we need to make inside the gates in order to protect the colonists. I won't have them getting caught in the crossfire."

Shannon nods. "What are we going to tell them? The colonists, that is?"

Nathaniel sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know yet. Alicia and I need to discuss that. Whatever we decide, it'll need to be soon, since we may be shutting down some civilian building projects." He looks over at Alicia, and she flits her eyes towards the door. "Let's call it a morning, all. Alicia and I need to catch up the other stacked up colony business. Shannon, can you come back this afternoon? I want to start talking about how we protect the colonists."

"Sure thing, Taylor." He nods to Alicia. "Wash." She nods back, and he ducks out of the room, followed by Mira, Guzman and Carter.

Both still seated at the conference table, they spend a moment in comfortable silence. Eventually, though, Alicia has to move, her back getting stiff in the overly straight chair. As she leans forward in the chair and twists around to try to pop her back, Nathaniel clearly notices. He gets up and stands behind her chair, and he begins to rub her back.

She lets out a happy noise and leans forward, crossing her arms on the table and resting her head down on them, giving him more of her back to work with. He chuckles softly and continues to massage her upper back and shoulders. "Good God, your back is tight, Alicia."

She doesn't lift her head, just replies with her voice muffled by her arms. "It was a tense few days, Nathaniel. I've had quite a bit on my mind."

He works silently for a moment before offering, "I'm sorry we couldn't contact you for so long, Alicia. We were concerned they might pick up the transmission."

"I'm not mad, Nathaniel. It was just hard. I'm not very good at dealing with stress right now." It's not easy for her to admit that, but she's also not going to try to bluff him. He'll see right through it.

"Damn, it's Thursday, isn't it?"

"Hmm?" she hums in confusion. "Yes. It's Thursday."

"I'm sorry, I missed your appointment with Elisabeth yesterday, and I didn't even ask you about it last night." He sounds truly dismayed at himself, so much so that she lifts her head and opens her eyes to look back at him.

"Nathaniel, it's all right. You were so tired you could barely even function."

"No, that's no excuse, and I didn't even remember this morning." He leaves off rubbing her back and drops into the chair next to her, shaking his head. "So, is everything OK?"

She reaches up and cups one side of his face with her hand. "Yes, she's fine and I'm fine, Nathaniel."

He blinks, something clearly occurring to him. "Wait, wasn't this a big milestone this week? I remember you telling me that it would be."

She drops her hand from his face, pulling back and fidgeting a little. "Yes. I'm officially past twenty-six weeks. That was my minimum milestone from Elisabeth in terms of viability if something happens and I go into premature labor. From here on out, the goal is just to keep me pregnant for as long as possible."

"There's something you're not saying, Alicia."

She hesitates. "I just wasn't sleeping well, and she could see it in my face, Nathaniel."

He frowns at her. "Alicia, why weren't you…" He pauses as a look of realization crosses his face. He reaches out and turns her chair to face his, and then he pulls her to him so that she ends up perched in his lap.

She considers protesting, but he feels too good to her to fight it, so she just wraps her arms around his neck and relaxes into his chest. When she speaks, her voice isn't much more than a whisper. "I was so worried, Nathaniel. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw bad things happening. I just can't do this alone, you know?"

His arms wrap tight around her. "Alicia, you know I can't promise that I'll be here, but I can promise to do everything in my power to be here, you understand?"

In spite of herself, tears form in her eyes. She brings one of her hands to fist in the fabric of his t-shirt, and she hides her face in his neck. "I know. I just need you more than I really like to admit, Nathaniel. I need you so much that it actually scares me." She pauses. "Bet this isn't what you thought you were signing up for when you married me."

His arms tighten around her, making her stomach press into his body. "No, it's not. It's a thousand times better, Alicia, do you hear me? And I don't mind being needed. I've needed you for so long, let you be my anchor for so long, I don't mind letting you lean on me for a change."

She sniffles a little and nods. "I shouldn't be OK with that, but I owe it to you to admit that I am." They go silent for a while until multiple kicks from the baby make both of them laugh softly. She gets serious again quickly, though. "You're worried about Lucas coming after one or both of us, aren't you?"

He takes a deep breath. "Yes. What scares me the most is that he might try to hurt you in order to hurt me. And that's even assuming that he doesn't know about the baby. I don't like to think too much about what he'll do if he finds out that you're pregnant."

Despite her best efforts to hold it in, a shudder goes through her at his words. Knowing he felt it because of the way he tries to tuck her even closer into his body, she says, "I'm not afraid for me, Nathaniel, but I'm terrified for Gracie. I hope you don't hate me for this, but if he does anything that endangers her, I will not hesitate to stop him, Nathaniel, even if it means I have to kill him."

"Alicia, I could never hate you, and in particular, I could never hate you for being willing to do what you have to in order to protect our daughter."

She nods against his neck before sighing quietly, "I'm tired, Nathaniel."

At that, he gently shifts to put her feet on the floor. "Come on, let's go home for a while. We just need to be back here to meet Shannon this afternoon."

She wants to argue, knowing that there is so much to be done, but suddenly she's more tired than she has been in months. She nods, letting him propel her towards the door. Fifteen minutes later, they're back home and curled up in their bed, where she quickly falls asleep listening to his heartbeat as he brushes his hand through her hair.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** **Story is already complete, was previously published on LiveJournal. One more chapter and then an epilogue after this one. Thanks so much to all who are reading as well as reviewing!**

**Warning: This chapter gets a bit dark, including physical violence. **

**Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.**

_Thirty-Two Weeks_

Alicia moves through the market as quickly as her body and her daily well-wishers will allow. Her walk, much to Nathaniel's delight, has turned into a full-on waddle. It drives her crazy, but Nathaniel has decided that it's completely adorable – and he reminds her of that as often as possible, probably because he knows it irks her.

She finally gets to the command center and she waddle-stomps into Nathaniel's office. He looks up from the plex in his hand at her noisy entrance, smirking. "Rough morning?"

She nearly growls at him. "If one more person asks me how I'm feeling, I'm going to bury a boot in their ass."

"Should I warn Shannon, or do you really want to kick someone today?" He can't disguise his amusement, irritating her further.

She huffs out a frustrated breath and drops into a chair at the conference table. "Don't tempt me, Nathaniel."

He chuckles softly at that, and she smiles in spite of herself. He goes back to what he was doing, and she pulls a plex and some diagrams out of her bag, going to work herself. In the six weeks that have passed since they stopped doing the runs on the Phoenix Group units, they've completed all of the defensive fortifications they decided that they needed. All she has left to do is make sure both Guz and the engineers have signed off on the completion of them.

Within days of their meeting when they set the game plan, Nathaniel gave one of his balcony speeches, alerting the colonists of the potential impending invasion attempt and letting them know that a plan for their safety would be forthcoming.

Surprisingly, many of their civilian colonists, the men in particular, but also some of the women, have volunteered to help defend the colony. Some were turned away for various reasons, but Reynolds, Reilly and Dunham have been tasked with training the balance of them, both in some basic hand-to-hand combat and more extensively in use of weapons.

Most of those new "recruits" will be placed in the guard towers and along the colony fence lines for cover support. Others of them will be given sidearms, mostly stun or pulse weapons, and be asked to stay back with the other civilians, protectors folded into the protected.

For her, Elisabeth is still pretty happy with her progress. Alicia is happy that she's only gained about sixteen pounds so far, though it feels like it's all up front, which puts a lot of strain on her lower back. Not only that, but her fatigue has also returned with a vengeance. It's not as bad as it was in the first trimester, but she does find it necessary to grab a short nap every afternoon.

She's chafing a little, though, against the restrictions that Elisabeth has placed on her. No more perimeter walks, no more resistance training in the afternoons. Usually, a woman wouldn't have those restrictions, but Elisabeth is worried about the scar tissue in Alicia's uterus becoming a problem. She's not on bed rest, but she's also not supposed to overexert herself.

So, for Alicia, it feels like most everything in her life these days is in wait and see mode. The colony is there and so is the pregnancy. The planning is done, now all they can do is hold their collective breath. She pauses for a moment in her review of the plans for moving the colonists out of harm's way.

Dropping her hand to her stomach, she feels rhythmic kicking from the baby, who is apparently feeling quite energetic today. The feel of the baby reminds her of the one other source of frustration for her right now, and that is the fact that she can do little or nothing to help when and if the Phoenix Group attack begins.

They now have a secondary comm station set up in the infirmary, and if they come under attack, she is under a standing order to fall back to that comm station and coordinate communications if it becomes necessary. She knows it's the right thing to do, but it still bothers her.

She is and must look pensive, because she jumps when Nathaniel suddenly appears, leaning his hip against the table. "Are you all right? You seem distracted today."

She huffs out a breath. "What have I said about making noise when you walk?"

He looks only slightly contrite. "You really are going to put a bell on me one of these days, aren't you?"

She smiles, once again in spite of herself. "I really am."

His face turns serious. "You do look distracted, though. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, Nathaniel. I just hate this feeling that I can't do anything to help whenever they decide to come at us."

He gives her a concerned look. "Alicia, we all just want to keep you safe."

She takes his hand. "Don't get me wrong. I know that I have to be on the sidelines. I'm just not happy about it."

His expression softens and he entwines their fingers. "I know." He starts to say something else when both of their comms go off.

Their eyes meet, and they both know in that moment that it's starting. Guz is on the other end of the comm, calling both of them to the guard tower near the gate. They're both up and moving in seconds, him grabbing his body armor from next to his desk.

Even though the walk to the gate from the command center is short, she knows it will take her longer than usual to get there. Once they're to the bottom of the command center stairs, she says, "Nathaniel, go. I'll catch up."

He hesitates, clearly torn between needing to get to the guard tower and not wanting to leave her. She gives him a light shove. "Go! I'll be fine."

He frowns but then nods. He drops a quick kiss to her lips, and he's gone, tearing towards the guard tower at full speed. She puts her hand on her gun and follows him as quickly as she can. Before she makes it halfway there, a loud explosion goes off outside the fence. She taps her comm. "Washington to Taylor. Was that one of the mines?" She references the land mines they've set out well beyond the fence line.

"Affirmative. They're here, and they're not pulling any punches. As far as we can tell they're throwing everything they have at us at once. Fall back, Alicia. Fall back to the infirmary now. Do you copy that, Lieutenant?" He sounds on edge. He hasn't called her by her rank in months, and she can't help the tremor of dread that runs through her.

"I copy, Nathaniel. Falling back. Is this a private call?" She turns and heads straight for the infirmary as other members of the military begin moving the civilians to the common areas and homes deeper inside the colony, getting them as far from the fence and gate as possible.

She hears a click in her ear. "It is now, Alicia."

"You be careful, Nathaniel, do you hear me? Gracie and I need you, and I am going to be very upset with you if you manage to damage yourself when I'm not right there to patch you up." She can't help the slight catch to her voice, so she just tries to push through it.

"I hear you. I love you, Alicia. You be careful, too." She hears a similar catch in his voice, and it's oddly comforting.

"I love you, too, Nathaniel. We'll be fine, I promise. Kick some ass for me, OK? Washington out."

She's pretty sure she hears a chuckle from him as she closes the comm line. She arrives at the infirmary, and she heads straight for Elisabeth's office. At the sight of her, Elisabeth jumps up from her desk. "Alicia, are you all right?"

Alicia nods. "I'm fine, Elisabeth. The Phoenix Group is here, though."

"I gathered that. The two doctors we designated for field work were already called to the fence, so they're there if something happens and they're needed. I sent another with the other civilians, just in case anyone panics and there are injuries." Elisabeth looks anxious already.

Putting a hand on the smaller woman's shoulder, Alicia is starting to try to reassure her when her comm goes off again. "Boylan to Washington, do you copy, Wash?"

Knowing that Boylan was assisting with moving the civilians, she taps her comm. "Go ahead, Boylan."

"Hey Wash, I just told Taylor that we have the civilians moved to the designated areas. Have you found a shady spot too?" She can hear people talking nervously in the background where he is, and he is yelling over the din.

"I did, Tom. You all lay low. Hopefully, this will be a pretty fast smackdown."

She hears him bark out a laugh at that. "Amen, Wash. You stay safe, OK?"

"Copy that, Tom. Washington out." She ends the connection and turns back to Elisabeth. "I'm going to head back to the secondary comm station. I can monitor the radio traffic from there, maybe at least keep some idea of what's going on. Who all is left here with us, Elisabeth?"

She swallows hard. "Skye is here, along with two other nurses and one other doctor."

Alicia nods. "OK, you all stay put. Is anyone else here armed?"

Elisabeth starts to reply when Skye's voice cuts in. "I am, Lieutenant."

Alicia turns to stare at the young woman, and she sees a small gun strapped to Skye's leg. "Have you trained on that, Skye?"

"Yes ma'am. Carter has been teaching me. I'm not a great shot, but I can at least help protect us here." Skye sounds nervous, but Alicia can't fault her for that, given that she's scared herself.

"All right, Skye, but you only draw that thing if absolutely necessary, do you hear me?" Alicia gives her a hard look.

Skye nods quickly. "Yes ma'am."

With that, Alicia gives Elisabeth what she hopes is a reassuring look, and she heads towards the secondary comm system they have set up in the exam room at the back of the infirmary. Moments later, after she powers up the system, she's perched in a chair, one hand on her stomach, listening in on the chatter between the guard towers and defensive fortifications.

Gunfire, by both pulse weapons and conventional weapons, is a constant soundtrack, but every time she hears a mine go up or another sort of explosion, Alicia can't help but flinch. As the afternoon wears on, Alicia begins picking up the occasional sit rep from Nathaniel or Guz, and they help her get a clearer picture of what's going on.

She can tell that things are going well, better than they really expected. Being the professional mercenaries that they are, it seems that the Phoenix Group soldiers, in their arrogance, have grossly overestimated their ability to overpower the colony forces. Especially since several of the Sixers were folded into their numbers, the colony military is pretty formidable.

The most telling thing to her, though, is that it doesn't sound like the Phoenix Group is interested in surrender or compromise of any sort. The distinct impression that she gets from the battle is that they don't care to be taken alive. She's heard what sounds like more than one enemy combatant commit suicide by soldier. Those chilling moments make Alicia realize just how desperate the Phoenix Group must have become.

After a few hours, the frequency of explosions tapers down to almost none, and the gunfire starts to sound further and further away. She knows they're likely putting a scary dent in their ammo supply, but in the future, if they have to, they can get by with the sonic and pulse weapons. She can also imagine that Malcolm will relish getting to blow things up in the name of developing some new munitions.

Just after nightfall, she can tell that the end is near, based on the exchanges she keeps hearing across the comms, many soldiers reporting in that their areas are now clear. It sounds as though their injuries and casualties have actually been miraculously light, and for that, she's very grateful. She waits, though, to hear Nathaniel, Carter and Reynolds report in that they're OK. Mira, Guz and Shannon have all posted positive updates, so she knows they're all right.

She gets so wrapped up in listening to the comms that she misses the commotion at the front of the infirmary, or maybe the sounds just get lost in the sounds she still hears from the battlefield. All she knows is that one moment, she's standing up to stretch out her back, and the next moment, she hears a whooshing sound as her feet are swept out from under her.

She's able to twist enough to make it so that none of her front hits the floor, her right hip taking the brunt of the impact as she lands hard on it. Her left hand goes to her stomach protectively and her right hand reaches for her gun. She hears another gun power up near her, and every fiber of her being tenses with dread.

She rolls to her knees as quickly as her awkward body will allow, gun powered up, but a kick to her wrist makes the gun fly out of her hand, landing nearby with a loud clatter. Her heart jumps to her throat at the sight before her. It's Lucas, filthy dirty and clearly even more deranged than he was before. She pulls her damaged right arm to her chest and glares at him.

"So, what I heard the soldiers saying is true, and that's why you're hiding out here. You're knocked up and it's his kid, isn't it? I always knew you were blindly, stupidly loyal, but I didn't know you were a whore." The venom in his voice literally makes Alicia's blood run cold.

She's tempted to refute his labeling her a whore, but she knows it isn't worth it. "Well you learn something new every day, don't you, Lucas?" She eyes the door, trying to figure out a way to get out of here.

There's a noise from the front of the infirmary, and he looks away briefly, giving her just enough time to drop her ear to her shoulder, activating her comm and hoping that someone, anyone, is listening. She uses his name when she talks to him, so if someone does hear, they'll know she's in trouble. "How did you get inside the fence, Lucas? All the entrances we know of are guarded."

He laughs derisively. "That's your problem right there. The entrances you _know_ of. Trust me when I say I can get in and out of this place any time I please. Now tell me, _Lieutenant_," his voice drips with disdain at the use of her title, "When is your little spawn due to arrive?" He dips his gun towards the baby.

Her left hand tightens across her belly, and her now throbbing right hand joins it there. "She's due in eight weeks. Your _half-sister _is due in eight weeks." She knows the effort will likely be fruitless, but she wants to at least try to get through to him about what he is so obviously threatening.

His face softens, but only briefly. After a moment, his angry, crazed scowl returns. "Unlucky kid. It's the half that I don't want. The half that killed my mother."

She and Nathaniel have both been down this road with Lucas before, trying to make him understand that Nathaniel made the only choice he could that day. She's not going to bother to try again. Instead, she tries to deflect him a little, praying that by now, someone has heard their conversation and is heading for the infirmary. "Where are Skye, Dr. Shannon and the others, Lucas?"

"Ah, the little Bucket and the good Doctor. They're still here. Bucket tried to shoot me again, but I was quicker than she was this time. She's out cold. Found them a nice quiet room up front. The doc put up a bit of a fight. She'll have a nice bruise or two for her trouble." He gives Alicia a chilling grin. "Now, as much as I'm enjoying this little tête-à-tête, Lieutenant, I think it's time I got on with the business I have here."

Alicia's heart sinks a little. Where the hell is everyone? She is out of time, and she knows there isn't anything she can do about it. He's just too damned insane, and she's too damned vulnerable. Still, when she speaks, her voice doesn't betray fear. "What business is that, Lucas?"

"Oh, you know, Lieutenant, destroying my father by taking everything he gives a damn about away from him. And, this is a bonus for me. Not only do I get to kill his precious Lieutenant for real this time, I also get to kill his unborn child. This may actually end him completely." His eyes sparkle with a terrifying evil euphoria, and he begins to advance on her.

Still on her knees, Alicia desperately tries to figure out a way to get some cover. Then, she thinks she hears another noise from the front of the infirmary, but Lucas clearly is too caught up in the task at hand to notice this time.

She fixes her eyes on him. "Lucas, you do know that you won't get out of the colony alive, don't you?"

"I don't really give a damn either way, Lieutenant." With that, he gets to her, but instead of pulling the trigger, he swings his gun hand around, nailing her right cheek with the gun. She can't stop herself from crying out at the pain that explodes behind her eye, and she drops to her hands, crouched over.

He apparently sees that as an opportunity. She's vaguely aware of him, and she can tell that he has moved to line up with her side. Suddenly, she realizes that he's going to try to kick her in the abdomen, so just as his foot pulls back, she twists around and drops to her side. His boot connects with her back instead of his intended target, and he roars in anger.

She isn't aware of much more than pain, but she can tell that he's coming around to her front to take another shot. He won't get one, though. At that moment, a hail of gunfire fills the air. She curls in on herself and on the baby as she hears Lucas drop to the floor near her. That and a man's voice yelling her name are the last things she's aware of before the pain in her back and head make everything fade to black.

**WT**WT**WT**

As Alicia fights her way through the foggy haze in her head, she slowly becomes aware of a quick, steady beat and hushed voices. It takes her a moment to mentally sort it all out, and given the pain she still feels behind her eyes, she decides that trying to open them right now would likely be a bad plan.

Instead, she methodically catalogs what hurts - head, back, hip and wrist - and she tries to figure out where she is. After a moment thinking about it, her head clears a little more, and she realizes that she's in a biobed, turned on her left side. She thinks, "Makes sense, Wash, everything that hurts is on the right side, and being on your left is better for circulation to the baby." That last thought makes her almost move, but even with just a slight shift, the pain reminds her that movement isn't a good idea.

Instead, she concentrates on her abdomen, trying to focus on any movement the baby might be making. Her body goes briefly tense as she waits, and a moment later, she's rewarded with the feel of a fluttering kick. She lets out a deep breath, exhaling audibly.

A moment later, she feels a hand wrap around her uninjured hand. "Alicia?"

The sound of Nathaniel's voice, obviously gruff with emotion and likely fatigue, prompts her to try to open her eyes. She flutters her eyelids, but her right eye isn't cooperating. Eventually, she's able to get both eyes slightly open, but the light above the bed makes her close them immediately.

Nathaniel must notice and realize what happened. "Doc, can we lose the overhead lights?"

She lightly squeezes his hand in gratitude, and when she hears the click of the light switch, she tries to open her eyes again. She gets them open, and after a moment, she's able to focus on his face. The guilt and anxiety in his expression break her heart, but she has to ask him the one question that matters to her right now, her voice low and scared. "Is Gracie OK? I felt her kick a minute ago, but is she OK?"

He nods, but still looks towards someone or something she can't see. Elisabeth steps into her line of sight, a nasty bruise around one eye clearly visible. "She's fine, Alicia. That's her heartbeat on the monitor. You did a very good job protecting her. Your water didn't break, and while you had some light spotting at first, that has stopped. You're completely stable right now."

Relief that is almost palpable floods through her, and she tightens her hand around Nathaniel's. She then remembers Lucas saying that he'd roughed Elisabeth up. "And are you OK, Elisabeth? That's a nice shiner."

Elisabeth gives her a game smile. "Thanks. It's my first. And yes, I'm fine, and so is Skye." She pauses. "You, on the other hand, will be here for a while."

Alicia frowns a little at that, and Elisabeth can apparently tell that she wants to argue. "Alicia, you have a concussion, a hairline fracture to your right cheekbone, more hairline fractures in your right wrist, a massive contusion on your right hip, several bruised ribs and another huge contusion on your back. You will stay right where you are until I say otherwise, even if we have to tie you to the bed."

Realizing that she has neither the will nor the energy to argue, Alicia just gives Elisabeth a slight nod. She attempts a small smile, but the movement actually makes her face hurt. She swings her eyes back to Nathaniel. He has a small smear of blood on his face, and he looks as near to broken as she has ever seen him. His demeanor is akin to what it was when he first visited her in the hospital after Ayani's death.

Keeping her eyes on his face, Alicia says, "Elisabeth, can we have the room for a moment? I promise I won't move."

"Of course." Elisabeth leaves, the door closing quietly behind her.

"Nathaniel?"

As he looks at her, she can see tears in his eyes. When he speaks, she can almost feel the pain in his voice. "I almost lost you, Alicia. I almost lost you both. I'm so sorry. I'm so damned sorry."

"Nathaniel, you didn't do anything wrong." She pulls their joined hands to her chest. "And bumps and bruises notwithstanding, you heard Elisabeth. We're all right."

He shakes his head, looking away. "I should've realized that Lucas would use the fight as cover to come after you. I should've had guards on this place."

"Nathaniel."

He turns back to her. "He almost killed you. If Carter hadn't gotten here when he did…"

She blinks in surprise. "Carter?"

"Yes. Carter is the one who saved you two. When you turned your comm on, all of us could hear you." He drops his head and takes a deep breath, prompting her to squeeze his hand again, encouraging him to continue. "Most of us were outside the fence cleaning up the last of the Phoenix Group soldiers. I knew we couldn't get to you in time. But we'd left Carter, Dunham and Reilly at the gate to take care of anyone that got by us. According to Reilly, Carter took off for the infirmary the moment we first heard you say Lucas' name."

She notices that Nathaniel's voice drops at little when he says his son's name. She's about to tell him that he can stop, that he doesn't have to tell her this, when he goes on, his voice almost impossibly soft. "Carter found Skye, Elisabeth and the others first. They pointed out where you were, and when Carter got there, Lucas was moving around to kick your front. Carter opened fire."

"Is Lucas…" She finds herself unable to finish the question.

"He's gone. Carter hit him three times, the last one in the head. He's out of his misery, and he'll never hurt anyone again."

Nathaniel sounds and looks completely lost. All she wants to do is hug him, but she knows her body won't grant her that kind of movement right now. She has to settle for hanging onto his hand with her left hand and reaching out with her injured right to comb her fingers into his hair. With a little force, she draws his head to hers and presses his forehead gently to hers, only wincing slightly at the complaints from her head and wrist.

"Regardless of what he'd become, Nathaniel, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

At that, his clear resolve to be strong for her disintegrates before her eyes. He drops his head to her chest and slides his free hand down to the baby. His broad shoulders start to heave with silent sobs, and she does her best to hold on to him, offering whatever comfort she can as he grieves for the loss of his son.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: ****Story is already complete, was previously published on LiveJournal. **

**Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.**

_Thirty-Five Weeks_

"Elisabeth."

"No."

"Seriously, Elisabeth."

"Seriously, no."

"Elisabeth, I want to go home."

"I know you do. But the answer is still no."

"I am losing my mind here. If you don't let me go home, I swear I'm going to go crazy, and I'm going to take you with me." Alicia crosses her arms across her chest, glaring at Elisabeth from her seat on the bed in the infirmary room that has been her home for the last three weeks.

Elisabeth sighs. "Alicia, we've discussed this before. _Several _times, in fact. We need you here so we can monitor you."

"I'm fine, Elisabeth. The bruises are faded, I can walk without pain or dizziness, and I am already thirty-five weeks, something I believe, thirty weeks ago, you referred to as 'perfect.' And bonus, if you let me go home, not only will I no longer be driving you crazy, my husband will also no longer be underfoot." She casts a glance at the unmade cot right next to Alicia's infirmary bed. As long as this has been Alicia's room, Nathaniel has been living here too, harassing the staff and basically just being a huge distraction.

Three full weeks have passed since the Phoenix Group's failed attempt to take the colony and since Lucas slipped inside the gate and nearly killed Alicia. In that time, Alicia has been, at least technically, confined to this room. For the first week, Alicia didn't mind. Pretty much every part of her hurt in one way or another, lasting remnants of Lucas' attack on her. She'd also been so worried about the baby that she was happy to be so close to the doctors and nurses here in the infirmary.

In the second week here, she began to become restless under all of Elisabeth's restrictions on her. She finally demanded that she at least be allowed to wander around the infirmary itself, if only to stretch her legs and have a brief change of scenery.

For the last week, Alicia knows that she has been something of a pain in the ass. The truth is, though, she feels fine. The baby seems perfectly happy staying right where she is, and the only real remnants of Lucas' attack are the almost-completely faded bruises on her face and body and the brace on her right wrist. She has cabin fever in a very real way, and she knows she has been alternatively crabby and nagging, her requests for release unending.

Now, on day one of week four, she is prepared to stage a mutiny. Nathaniel insists on being, his word, "Switzerland" in the battle of wills between Alicia and Elisabeth. At that, she called him a coward. He insists that he is just strategically picking his battles. She knows better. Elisabeth is literally the only other woman in the colony outside of Alicia, maybe the only other _person _outside of Alicia, who can bully Nathaniel into compliance.

The only issue on which he refuses to pay attention to Elisabeth is her insistence that _he _go home. His reply to that was simple – if Alicia has to live at the infirmary, he will also live at the infirmary. Even so, another reason she wants to get home is that she can see that Nathaniel is withdrawn and quiet for him, and she knows it's about Lucas. She wants to get him home to get him to really talk to her, something he hasn't done since the night Lucas died.

Elisabeth is now getting ready to perform Alicia's morning scan. She's being scanned twice a day, morning and night, to monitor the baby. "Lie back, Alicia."

Alicia complies silently, her frustration with Elisabeth thick in the air. A few minutes later, Elisabeth shuts down the scanner. Looking down at a plex pad and making some notes, Elisabeth says, "Everything looks good, Alicia."

When Alicia doesn't reply, Elisabeth looks up at her. Alicia is sure that her demeanor is less than pleasant this morning. As much as she cares for her friend, literally only the second female friend she's had, the other being, oddly enough, Ayani, she just doesn't want to be here anymore.

Elisabeth tries to reason with her. "Alicia, I know you want to go, but this is better. If something happens…"

Alicia turns to look at her, pleading with her eyes. "If something happens, I'll be five minutes from here. Five minutes. I will even dutifully come back twice a day for my scans. Tell the truth, Elisabeth, if this was anyone else, would you be keeping them here? If I hadn't been attacked by Lucas, would I even be on bed rest right now?"

"Alicia, damage could have been done in that attack, damage we haven't seen yet."

"You've scanned me at least twice a day for three weeks, Elisabeth. That's well over forty scans. Are you saying that something is just going to magically show up after _forty _scans?" Alicia arches an eyebrow at Elisabeth, who at least is honest enough to show in her face that she knows the argument is, at best, weak. Elisabeth clearly doesn't have a response, standing there silently, fidgeting with her plex.

Alicia can see a small chance to convince her, so in a soft voice, she pleads, "Elisabeth, I know you're worried for me. I know that what happened scared you. It scared me too, more than I've ever been scared in my life. But I'm OK now. I just need some time at home, time for Nathaniel and me to be alone. I need to see with my own eyes that the baby's room is ready, to curl up on my sofa and read a book, to sit in the sun on the deck, just be normal for a while. I'm not asking to go back to work, and I'm not asking to be cleared to do anything all that physical. I just want to be allowed to sleep in my own bed, to walk, _slowly_, back and forth from home to here for my scans. That's it. Please. I really am losing my mind here."

Elisabeth is silent for a moment, staring at the floor. Without looking up, she eventually replies, "We almost lost you, Alicia. If Carter hadn't arrived when he did…" She breaks off, clearly having difficulty talking about this.

Alicia is suddenly struck with understanding. She and Elisabeth have talked a lot in the last three weeks, but the one thing they have not discussed, outside of anything specifically related to her recovery, is that day three weeks ago.

Alicia climbs down off her bed and walks over to Elisabeth, putting her hands on the smaller woman's upper arms. She stands there until Elisabeth looks up at her. "But Carter did get here in time, Elisabeth. I'm OK. The baby is OK. And for the record, just in case this is also an issue, there is only one person to blame for what happened. Lucas. Not you and not Nathaniel, who also blames himself. This is all on Lucas. Period. Are we clear?"

Elisabeth's eyes sheen over with tears, and Alicia realizes that she has found the sore spot. "Elisabeth. You can't seriously blame yourself for what happened?"

Looking away, Elisabeth says, "I wasn't able to stop him. I wasn't able to protect you."

"Elisabeth," Alicia uses a hand to turn Elisabeth's head back to face Alicia, "He was a lunatic with a gun. If you'd tried any harder to stop him, he might've killed you, and that would have seriously pissed me off. I didn't die to save you because I wanted you to return the favor. So stop feeling guilty. Right now."

At that, Elisabeth cracks a small smile. "You know, you're the first person I've ever known who could legitimately get away with a line like 'I didn't die to save you because I wanted you to return the favor.'"

Alicia snorts. "Yeah, I'm thinking being able to play the 'I _died _for you card' is definitely unique." She grows serious again. "I know you just want me to be safe, Gracie to be safe, but Elisabeth, is it really so impossible for us to be safe at home?"

Elisabeth crosses her arms across her chest, trying to appear defiant, but her face belies her stance. "Scans twice a day. I want you here at 8 am and again at 6 pm. And you aren't to walk here alone. If Taylor can't walk you, you will get someone else to."

"OK. Anything else?" Nearly able to taste her freedom, Alicia wants it to be clear that she will go along with any restrictions or requirements Elisabeth has.

"Yes. No work. No housework. If you need something done, get one of those great hulking men or helpful women always hanging around your room here to assist." Alicia grins at Elisabeth's allusion to the fact that her room has been like Grand Central Station, with near-daily visits from Reynolds, Carter, Skye, Reilly, Boylan, Guz, Mira and even Malcolm. Elisabeth's own family, Jim, Maddy and Zoe in particular, are also here daily. In fact, when someone can't find Shannon, they routinely check here. He often hangs around so long that Alicia herself is ready to drop kick him out.

Alicia nods her agreement, and Elisabeth continues, "And no cooking, that's too much time on your feet. Which means you have to find someone to feed the two of you, because it's my understanding that your husband's cooking is astoundingly awful."

With a grin, Alicia laughs. "Is Maddy willing to cook for money?"

"I'll talk to her. I think she'd probably love to."

"Is that it?" Alicia gives Elisabeth a questioning look.

Taking a deep breath and then exhaling, Elisabeth says, "For now. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know."

"So, I can pack up and get out of here?" At Elisabeth's narrowed eyes, she corrects, "So, I can call Nathaniel to come pack me up and take me home?"

Elisabeth nods, and, in response, Alicia does something she almost never does, except with Nathaniel. She hugs Elisabeth. Elisabeth laughs, hugging her back. "You're welcome, Alicia."

With a grin, Alicia contacts Nathaniel over the comm. He tells her he's finishing up a meeting, but will be there in fifteen minutes, give or take. When she tells Elisabeth, she says, "OK. Why don't I start putting your things in the bag Taylor used to bring them here?"

"You don't have to do that, Elisabeth," Alicia protests.

"Nonsense. It's quiet here today, and I don't mind helping." She finds the bag and lays it out on the bed. She begins to gather Alicia's things, but not before pointing to an empty space on the bed as a message to Alicia to sit back down.

Alicia happily obeys. As she watches Elisabeth fold up her clothes, a thought occurs to her. "You know, I'm pretty sure the night nurse, Jane, I think, will be thrilled that we're going."

"Why is that?" Elisabeth shoots her a curious look.

Alicia smirks. "Let's just say that two nights ago she caught me and Nathaniel, for lack of a better way to say it, making out like teenagers when she came to check on me. And Nathaniel was well past second base at the time."

"Alicia!" Elisabeth protests while trying very hard not to laugh. "I was wondering why the poor dear looked so traumatized the other morning."

"The moment she saw us, she froze, but it only lasted a second. Then, she was just gone. I didn't know she could move that fast." She gives Elisabeth a wicked grin. "I know she was on duty again last night, but she never checked on me. I think we may have scarred her for life."

They both laugh and then go silent for a while as Elisabeth continues to put Alicia's things in the bag. Eventually, Alicia decides to ask Elisabeth something she's been thinking about. "Elisabeth?" Elisabeth looks up, a questioning expression on her face, so Alicia goes on, "I know you don't want me overexerting myself and all, but, well, can I, I mean, can we, Nathaniel and I, can we…"

As Alicia stumbles over the words, it becomes clear, from the look on Elisabeth's face, that Elisabeth has worked out what she's asking. Alicia sighs. "Are you going to make me say it?"

Elisabeth laughs. "I should, but I won't. And yes, you can. But take it easy, OK? Nothing particularly, er, nothing rough." It's Alicia's turn to laugh when Elisabeth blushes bright red as she says the last word. "And now, Alicia, other than the permission granted, we are both going to forget that this conversation ever happened."

"What conversation?"

"Exactly."

**WT**WT**WT**

"I'm really glad you had that conversation with Elisabeth." Nathaniel's still slightly out of breath voice is a near growl against her temple as he pulls her naked body up against his own.

She laughs softly, snuggling into his side as much as her ever-growing stomach will allow. "I am too, but remember, that conversation never really happened."

"Right. Wouldn't want to embarrass the doc." He laughs too, running his hand through her hair.

She drops her head to his shoulder, her hand on his chest. As she often does, she lightly draws patterns there with her fingertips. She sighs, "I missed this. I missed _you_."

He drops a kiss on the top of her head. "I missed this too, but why did you miss me? I was there every night."

She hesitates, not sure if she wants to bring up her concern over how distant he's been the last few weeks. "I know, but this is different. Notwithstanding losing control a bit the other night, we've both had our guard up just a little, you know? Even with each other when it was just us. I felt like you didn't want to let me in. After the first night, you put up a wall."

She feels him tense next to her, so she turns her head and nuzzles his shoulder. "I'm not upset about it, and I understand it. But you did shut me out a little. You know it's true, Nathaniel."

He's quiet for a moment before the tension drains out of him. "I know, and I'm sorry Alicia. I didn't mean to. I just don't know how to deal with it. It's hard to let yourself really grieve for someone who everyone else hated, who did such awful things. No matter what he did, no matter how damaged and hateful he had become, I still remember him as a baby, as a little boy. He was so brilliant and so _excited _about every new thing. He was like Ayani. He was all light and joy and curiosity."

She smiles against his shoulder. "I remember that too, you know. He was such a sweet, amazing child, Nathaniel."

"I'm glad someone else remembers him the way he was, and I'm even more glad that it's you, that you understand what I mean when I say I miss him, that I'll always miss him."

"I feel like I should hate him for what he almost did to me, to us," she reaches for his hand and squeezes it tight in hers, "And I won't lie to you, Nathaniel, back when they'd taken the colony and then when I saw him at the Phoenix Group camp, I did hate him a little for what he had done to us. But now that he's gone, I find that I can't anymore. Now, all I feel is sorrow for him and for you, and sadness at the horrifying loss of innocence and potential."

He stays quiet but squeezes her hand back in reply. Leaning his head down, he catches her lips in a slow, deep kiss. When he pulls away, he rolls to his side and spoons up behind her body, pulling her back flush against his chest. "Nathaniel?"

"Hmm?"

"Promise me you'll always let me in."

"Always, Alicia. Promise me you'll always want to get in."

"Always, Nathaniel."

With that, they both drift off to sleep. His strong arm wraps around her middle, holding her close and tight, and making her feel safer than she has in weeks.

**WT**WT**WT**

Just over a week later, Alicia is curled up on the sofa, taking a nap with her head on a pillow in Nathaniel's lap. He has a plex in one hand, and he's absently brushing his other hand through her hair.

He has been working out of their home as much as possible since she was allowed to leave the infirmary, generally unwilling to be away from her. On the rare occasion that he has had to leave, he always makes sure that someone is here with her, which she finds silly but doesn't mind indulging.

For the last few days, she's been having small, warm-up contractions, but, according to Elisabeth, they're just Braxton Hicks contractions – false labor. She has been having more and more twinges and problems with her back, but, days ago, she stopped trying to read something into every little twinge.

She knows that Elisabeth is itching to get her back in the infirmary, but she hasn't pushed the issue just yet. Alicia is grateful for that, if only because of moments like this one, quiet moments when they're together, both actually relaxed and other people leaving them alone.

Whereas when she was in the infirmary, everyone seemed to feel the need to keep dropping by to keep her company, here at home, they've given space. Once again, though, the one person who seems to lurk and hover is Carter. When Nathaniel commented on it, Alicia shrugged and reminded him about how Carter also looked after her when Nathaniel was on his runs attacking the Phoenix Group units.

At that, Nathaniel had looked thoughtful but didn't comment. But from then on, when Nathaniel needs to leave the house to see to some sort of colony business or another, the first one he calls to come be at the house with her is Carter. A lot of people clearly think it's odd, with the snappiest comments about it coming from Jim, but for whatever reason, Carter and Alicia seem to get along. They talk little, aside from the occasional sarcastic remark. That works for Alicia, though she's also entertained by how put out it makes Jim, someone she has come to genuinely care about. She makes a mental note to banter with him later, just so he doesn't feel left out.

The quiet is suddenly broken by a comm, Nathaniel's. "This is Taylor, go ahead."

Alicia can't hear the other side of the conversation, but after a moment, Nathaniel sighs and says, "OK. Can you come over?" After another fuzzy reply, he says, "Thanks, Taylor out."

She sits up, looking at him questioningly. He rolls his eyes. "That was Carter. A couple of folks got into a scuffle over their spaces in the market. Jim's there, but he asked Carter to call me to help settle the argument. I'm sure it will be ridiculously petty. I think I've had at least six or seven of these since you were in the infirmary." She swallows a small smile, but he sees it. He shakes his head. "This is the kind of thing you usually deal with for me, isn't it?"

"Yes, but you've been lucky if this is only the seventh or eighth one in four weeks. There are usually one or two little disputes like this a day. Maybe they're trying harder to resolve things without intervention out of respect or something." She gives him a game smile. "Carter coming here?"

"He is. And really, one or two a _day_?" Nathaniel looks incredulous. At her nod, he says, "Alicia, why didn't you tell me? I could have at least assigned someone to split the duties with you."

She raises an eyebrow at him. "Nathaniel, it's my job. I don't mind doing it, and I think the colonists like the consistency. They know they have to deal with me over this stuff. I think it makes them pick their battles, because I don't exactly put up with a lot of crap."

He laughs and drops a kiss on her forehead. "Really? I can't imagine _you_not putting up with a lot of crap."

She gives him a mock glare and playfully shoves him away from her. He's still laughing when they hear a knock at the front door, and Nathaniel gets up to open it. It's Carter, so Nathaniel calls a good-bye to Alicia. At her wave, he disappears out the door.

Carter walks over to the sofa and drops onto it. "How are we today, Lieutenant?"

She snorts. "We're just fine Carter. So, how stupid is the dispute he has to go settle?"

He gives her a funny look, then grins. "You usually handle these for him, don't you? That's why Shannon was so gleeful about calling Taylor to handle it. He probably knows it will drive Taylor nuts."

"Ouch. It's that bad?"

Carter nods. "One vendor in the market is claiming that the vendor next to him is encroaching into his space."

"OK, well, that could be a problem. How far?"

Carter grins again, this time looking a little bit evil. "An inch."

She rolls her eyes and drops her face into her hand. "Jesus, Nathaniel's going to want to kill them. There was a scuffle over a goddamned inch?"

Carter is now laughing. "Yes, along with some very colorful name calling."

They both fall silent, and Alicia decides it's time that she ask him something she has been wondering about. "Carter, why are you here?"

"What do you mean? It was better than being with those Phoenix Group bastards." He looks confused.

"No, Carter," she shakes her head, "Why are you here with me? What's with this sudden big brother act you have going on with me? And don't give me that line about doing it to protect the colony and Nathaniel."

He looks uncomfortable. "Look, Wash, it's not a big deal, and I don't mind doing it."

"OK. But not what I asked, Carter." She pins him with her eyes.

He gets up and actually starts to pace. She watches him, a little bemused, until he finally stops and looks at her. "I respect you, OK? You're a badass. You're smart. I'm sure you'd likely have your own command back in our time, but instead, you follow Taylor here, likely out of loyalty, though I know there's more to it than that. And not only are you OK with being his second, you're actually good at it. I've never seen anyone inspire respect the way you do. And then you go and sacrifice yourself to save Shannon's family. No one is that selfless, Wash!"

She blinks at him, unsure what to make of his outburst. Then, she slowly breaks into a grin. "You know, Carter, you could've just said, 'I like you, Wash.'"

He looks uncomfortable again, but then he scowls at her as he realizes that she's laughing at him. He flops back down next to her on the sofa. "Shut up."

That only makes her laugh harder, which makes him scowl more. "I'm liking you less and less by the moment, Wash."

She takes a deep breath, swallowing another laugh. "Sorry, Carter."

"And what's with the 'big brother' thing? You're older than I am."

"I don't think so." She smirks.

He glares at her. "38."

She grins. "37."

"Son of a bitch. You really suck, you know that, right?" His scowl returns, and he sinks down further into the sofa, shoulders hunched, looking downright mopey.

"I know." She starts to stand up, intending to go to the kitchen to get some water, when a sharp pain on one side of her stomach makes her stop moving immediately. She holds her breath for a moment, trying not to move at all. She feels Carter tense and sit up next to her, and she knows he's watching her closely.

"Wash?" All trace of irritation with her is gone, replaced with concern.

She tries to reply, but a second sharp pain hits her. This time, the pain, now in her back, actually makes her gasp and grab his arm. Her head feels hazy, but she knows that this kind of pain isn't normal. It's not Braxton Hicks and it's not a regular contraction either. "I need to go to the infirmary. Now."

He stands and extends a hand to help her. She lets him pull her up, but another pain comes, making her double over slightly and sway on her feet. "Alicia!" His voice is alarmed, and he doesn't wait for her to respond. He just slips one arm under her legs and wraps the other around her shoulders, and he scoops her up.

She wants to fight him on carrying her, but she knows she can't walk. She wraps one arm around his neck and grits out, "Go, Carter."

He nods and hurries to the door, and a moment later they're heading towards the infirmary as quickly as he can move without risking dropping her. She sees people stepping back as they approach, giving him space to get through. As they move, she reaches up with her free hand and hits her comm. "Elisabeth?"

Her voice must sound strained, because Elisabeth answers immediately. "Alicia, what's wrong?"

She takes a deep breath against the pain. "I don't know. Am on my way there now. Pain in my stomach and back, but it's not contractions. Just hurts, Elisabeth, a lot. We'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"OK, we'll be waiting, Alicia."

She taps her comm again, the pain abating briefly enough for her to relax slightly. "Washington to Taylor. Nathaniel, come in."

"Alicia?" He sounds even more worried than Elisabeth did.

"Something's wrong, Nathaniel. Meet us at the…" she has to stop when another pain hits her, making her gasp again, followed by an involuntary whimper.

Carter realizes that she can't finish what she was saying, he raises his voice so Nathaniel can hear him over the comm. "Taylor, we're almost to the infirmary. Meet us there."

Alicia concentrates on breathing and not crying out as she hears him reply, "Already on my way."

She's back to whimpering, and a clearly scared Carter murmurs, "We're almost there, Wash. Almost there," as he increases his speed as much as he can.

A minute later, they're at the infirmary. Carter gently puts her down on the bed Elisabeth indicates to him just as Nathaniel skids into the building, rushing to her side and grabbing her hand. Carter says quietly, "Doc, I've got blood on the arm that was under her."

They all look at him, dread on their faces. Elisabeth nods quickly and goes back to the scan she's already running. "Damn it. Nurse Ogawa, please go make sure the sterile operating room is ready." The nurse nods and heads off immediately.

Elisabeth looks down at her, reaching out and smoothing her hair back. "Alicia, we need to take her, now."

"What's happening?" Her voice is shaky, but she has to know what's going on. One of the infirmary assistants appears with a rolling stretcher, and Elisabeth looks at Carter and Nathaniel, who both nod and help move Alicia over to it.

Elisabeth turns back to her. "Alicia, you've had a placental abruption. It looks like the placenta has pulled away from the wall of the uterus, right by the worst of the scar tissue. I'm going to put you out and perform an emergency section."

Once she's settled on the stretcher, Alicia asks, "Is she OK?"

Elisabeth nods. "For now." When they roll towards the one operating room they have for more traditional surgeries, Nathaniel starts to follow. Elisabeth nods to the assistant to take Alicia, so he keeps rolling her away. "Taylor, you can stay with her for a moment while we get her prepped, but I need you to stay out here after that."

He starts to protest, but Elisabeth cuts him off. "Do not argue with me. I need to get the baby out now, fast, or we could lose them both."

Shocked, he just nods at her and follows. When he gets to her side, Alicia is already being given the anesthesia. When he takes her hand, she just says, "I love you, Nathaniel," and she drops off, the medication doing its job quickly.

**WT**WT**WT**

As she wakes up, she thinks to herself that she's had enough of waking up like this, not knowing what happened. Forcing her way through her own hazy mind, she opens her eyes. The lights are blessedly dim, and she realizes that it's actually dark outside the window. She runs her hand to her stomach, and she's shocked when it gets there. Her abdomen, while still relatively full and swollen, is noticeably smaller and softer than before.

She looks around in a panic, then she notices a weight on her right arm. She looks down, and she see that it's Nathaniel, his arm against hers and his head resting next to it. "Nathaniel?"

He sits up quickly, his body tense. His eyes soften when their eyes meet. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

She swallows hard against the panic she's still feeling. "Where's the baby?"

With a smile, he moves to the side. She feels her panic dissipate when she sees a small bassinet. It has a small heat lamp shining on it, the only real light in the room. Tears come to her eyes, and she whispers, "She's OK?"

He leans forward and gently kisses her. When he leans back, his eyes have a light sheen of tears as well. "She's perfect, Alicia." He stands up and presses the button on the side of her bed, slowly moving her into a sitting position.

She winces slightly at the pinch of the wound seal she can feel, but the pain is minimal. He turns and goes to the small bassinet, moving the lamp out of the way and lifting up a tiny form wrapped tight in a blanket. She immediately holds out her arms, and he places the small bundle in them.

Pulling the bundle close in to her body, Alicia can't stop the tears from overflowing. At first, all she can see is a light covering of dark hair, but when Nathaniel helps her push the blanket back slightly, she sees a face that could literally be her own from her baby pictures. Blinking, she breathes out, "Hi, Gracie."

He grins a little. "She's you. Almost all you."

She's about to ask him what he means by "almost" when the baby opens her eyes, giving Alicia a cross-eyed, unfocused look. Alicia gasps at the near-ghostly silver blue color of them. He warns, "Elisabeth said they might change."

Alicia shakes her head, quietly certain. "They won't." She looks up at him, and he smiles at her definite tone. "How big is she? Is she breathing OK?"

He laughs softly, carefully perching on the edge of the bed. "She's five pounds, six ounces, nineteen inches long and yes, her breathing has been fine. Her only issue so far has been regulating her body temperature, which is why she was under the little heat lamp."

She hugs Gracie even closer to her chest, and the baby yawns, making a soft little sound. After she finishes nearly melting into a small puddle of goo, Alicia looks at Nathaniel again. "And I guess I should ask how _I _am."

His face grows serious. "You're OK, Alicia. You're going to be just fine."

Her eyes narrow, knowing there's something he isn't saying. "But?"

He sighs. "But it was touch and go for a while. You bled a lot, Alicia. Your heart stopped right after they got Gracie out. Elisabeth brought you back." He stops, rubbing his hand across his eyes, clearly still upset. "They had to transfuse you to get you stabilized."

With the arm not wrapped around Gracie, she reaches out and takes his hand in hers. "I'm sorry, Nathaniel. I should've just let Elisabeth keep me here."

He squeezes her hand as he shakes his head. "Don't do that to yourself. Elisabeth knew you'd say that. She already told me that this didn't happen for any reason other than the scar tissue and that Carter got you here so quickly that being here wouldn't have made any difference. I'm just glad he was there."

"Me too."

"Even though it's the middle of the night, I'm pretty sure he's still out there waiting. He's there and so are the Shannons, Reynolds and Skye. All of them are claiming to either be aunts or uncles. Well, except Zoe. She's claiming best friend." The last part makes her laugh quietly.

After a moment, she says, "I'll be happy to see them all later, but for now, can we just sit here, just the three of us?"

He nods, a soft look in his eyes. He reaches out and takes hold of the edge of the sheet she sits on, and he gently tugs it to slide her a little closer to the edge of the bed. Then, he walks around the bed, carefully sitting down next to her. She turns into him a little after he stretches his legs out on the bed in front of him, crossing them at the ankles.

One of his arms wraps around her shoulders, and she nestles into him. With his free hand, he reaches up and tips her face up to his. He leans down and kisses her. "As far as I'm concerned, Alicia, we can sit here just the three of us for as long as you want."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **Here there be Fluff. You have been warned. Also, I do write Grace phonetically, just FYI. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed! I have several one-shots for Wash/Taylor (plus some on the friendship between Wash and Elisabeth), and I'll be posting them next. I also have one more multi-chapter story, which is Wash/Taylor but again has a focus on Wash and Elisabeth as friends.

**Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.**

_Twenty-Three Months Later_

Alicia stands at the sink in the kitchen cleaning the dishes from breakfast. Some might be surprised at the volume of them, but breakfast is part of the deal she has with her soldier babysitters. Every morning since she weaned Gracie from breastfeeding a year ago, she once again goes with Nathaniel on the perimeter walk.

Every day at about thirty minutes before sunrise, one of their soldiers will show up on the front porch of the house, reporting for, as they refer to it, "Gracie Watch." She wondered how they knew who would show up when, so she asked Reynolds. He laughed and pulled out a plex, pulling up a grid called the "Gracie Watch Duty Roster." According to him, they actually have a lottery of who gets to be on Gracie Watch.

The most amusing part to her is that not only do they have the mornings sketched out, they also have a rotation of who is on call when childcare might be needed. Sometimes the soldiers surprise her, but the more she thinks about it, considering that her precocious child has most of the colony wrapped around her little finger, it really isn't much of a mystery.

Even Guz is on the roster. The first time he showed up in the morning, he looked sheepish and just said that he missed the days when Tasha was a baby. Sometimes Mira shows up with him, and Alicia finds herself wondering if she should start a pool about when they will have a baby together.

As a thank you to the soldiers, she makes them a hot breakfast every morning. In fact, she usually feeds anyone who watches Gracie for them because she appreciates it so much. During the day, they don't need sitters as often, as Gracie is now attending the small colony preschool three days a week. On the other days, unless they have a large meeting or a need for focus, they bring Gracie with them to the command center.

The one big allowance she and Nathaniel have made is that they no longer go OTG at the same time. One of them is always here. She's not entirely happy with it, in that she misses going OTG with him, but they agreed that they don't want to risk Gracie ending up an orphan if something were to happen to both of them.

As she finishes washing the dishes, she hears a crash come from the living room. Months ago, when she first heard a crash like that, she went running. Now, she reacts with far less alarm, as they are, without question, a regular occurrence. She calmly dries her hands on a towel by the sink and heads into the living room to see what havoc has been wreaked this morning.

When she gets to the living room, she has to swallow a small laugh and school her face to look stern. Her wayward child is seated on the floor next to a bookcase, several old books from the future scattered around her.

Of course, they aren't her children's books, all gifts from others with now-grown children. They are Nathaniel's and Alicia's books, from several shelves up, hence the crash. A large candle and a few framed pictures are on the floor near Gracie, clear casualties of her morning climb. They don't worry Alicia, as they removed the glass from all of the frames months ago, just as a precaution.

She knows she should scold Gracie, but she also knows it will have little impact from a preventative standpoint. Still, she stands there, hands on her hips, and clears her throat. When Gracie looks up in surprise, her short black pigtails bounce to almost comic effect. Her light blue eyes are wide and seemingly innocent. She blinks once and then gives Alicia a toothy grin. "Hi Mama!"

"Hi Bug. What are you doing?" Alicia's voice is deadpan, a voice she knows Gracie has come to associate with being in trouble, likely because she also uses it with Nathaniel. The odd nickname, on the other hand, came from Boylan of all people, when he said she reminded him of a bug when she'd curl up on Alicia as a tiny baby. It just stuck.

Uncowed by Alicia's look, Gracie continues to grin. She holds up a worn copy of an old book, one of Alicia's favorites, _The Red Badge of Courage_. "Gwacie wead!"

Alicia raises an eyebrow as she walks over and crouches next to Gracie. She can tell it was Reilly watching her this morning, as Gracie's "Auntie Worwa," the closest Gracie can manage to saying "Laura," has turned out to be surprisingly into girly things. Gracie's pigtails are both adorned with bright purple ribbons, and she is dressed in a purple sundress patterned with small flowers, with a matching diaper cover and little sandals.

Gracie still looks almost exactly like Alicia, except that her black hair is already turning wavy like Nathaniel's, and her eyes are his startling light blue. But as much as she looks like Alicia, her personality is almost all Nathaniel Taylor. She is downright fearless, and she never met a stranger. She climbs, jumps and throws herself into any situation. She has none of Alicia's subtle caution. She also talks a lot more than one would expect of a child of not quite two, another trait she clearly got from Nathaniel.

Smiling at her daughter, she motions to the book. "So, big Stephen Crane fan, are you?" When Gracie cocks her head and looks puzzled, Alicia chuckles. "Is that one of Gracie's books?"

Gracie looks at the book in her hands, clearly weighing her response. She wisely goes with the truth. "Mama's book."

Alicia nods. "And how exactly did you get it?"

That answer is faster and spoken with significant pride. "Gwacie cwimbed!"

Alicia makes a mental note to remind the preschool teacher to work more with Gracie on Rs and Ls, then asks, "So, is that how Mama's candle and pictures ended up on the floor?"

Alicia has to smile as Gracie looks around her, clearly surprised by the mess. An ability to focus on the task at hand to the extent that she actually ignores everything else is something she got, unfortunately, from both of her parents. She looks immediately contrite. "Sowwy, Mama." She then puts down the book and pushes herself up, butt first as is her style, and shuffles to Alicia, throwing her little arms around Alicia's waist as well as she can.

"It's OK, Bug. Help me clean it up, and we'll go find Daddy."

Gracie grins again and toddles back to the mess. Alicia stands and follows her, and as Gracie hands her things, Alicia puts them back on the shelf. As she watches Gracie concentrate on her task of finding everything that fell off of the shelf, Alicia thinks about Nathaniel. She told Gracie they had to "find" him, but Alicia thinks she knows where he is.

He sent her home alone from their perimeter walk this morning, telling her rather cryptically that he had somewhere to go. She'd been surprised, but she didn't question him. It had only been when she got home and thought about the date that she realized where he probably went.

Once the mess is taken care of, Alicia scoops a giggling Gracie up. She takes her to her room, decorated with wall to wall murals of dinosaurs and flowers, an odd combination dreamed up by Zoe Shannon and Leah Marcos, and changes her diaper. Then, after a stop to put a muffin, a piece of fruit and some water for Nathaniel in Gracie's diaper bag, she takes Gracie's hand and they head out.

It's the weekend, and weekends are something they actually observe these days. Until Gracie came along, Nathaniel and Alicia both usually worked seven days a week. Now, they all tend to take weekends off. With the Sixers fully integrated into the colony and the Phoenix Group gone, the only real threats these days are things like natural disasters and aggressive local wildlife. They always have a skeleton crew of military and security on the weekends, but most people are off.

The market is teeming with activity, though, and most people wave and smile at her and Gracie as they pass. Alicia does her usual nod of acknowledgement, while Gracie grins and waves enthusiastically at everyone. A moment later, a cheerful, "Morning, ladies!" gets her attention.

They turn, and with a cry of, "Unca Shannon," Gracie wrenches free of her hand and throws herself at Jim's legs, hugging with all her might.

He bends down and picks her up, settling her on his hip. "Come on, little Gracie Bug. 'Uncle Jim,' you can call me 'Uncle Jim.'"

Alicia snorts, knowing it's a lost cause. She and Nathaniel call Jim "Shannon," and their daughter is no different. With a grin that Alicia swears is slightly evil, Gracie says, quite definitely, "Unca Shannon."

Jim sighs. "Uncle Shannon it is."

"Good idea to be resigned, Shannon. The kid's as stubborn as her parents both are."

"Unca Cotter!" Gracie gives Jim a kiss on the cheek before saying, "Down, Unca Shannon."

"Grace Ayani!" Alicia gives her a look she clearly knows well.

"Sowwy. Down _pwease_, Unca Shannon!"

Jim laughs and releases Gracie. She immediately throws herself towards Carter, who catches her as she runs to him. Jim and Alicia sit there watching as Carter proceeds to hold Gracie high above his head before tossing her up and catching her repeatedly, making Alicia shake her head as Gracie squeals with delight, saying, "Again!" after every catch.

Jim looks at Alicia and offers, "It's so nice that Carter has found a friend with a maturity level equal to his own."

Alicia snorts, but she elbows Jim in the side. "Be nice."

Jim likes to snipe at Carter, and Carter always gives as good as he gets, but these days it's more for show. He and Carter have actually become good friends, despite their rocky start. Alicia and Nathaniel both think it's because they're more alike than either would care to admit.

As they continue to watch Gracie and Carter, Jim says, "Going out to Memorial Field?"

Alicia looks at him in surprise, and he lifts an eyebrow at her. She shakes her head. "I forgot. Cop." He grins, and she goes on, "Yes. It's the anniversary. I'm pretty sure he's already out there."

"He is," Jim nods. "I saw him headed out there earlier."

At that moment, Carter walks over, a still-giggling Gracie in his arms. "OK, Wash, this one wore Unca Cotter out." He hands Gracie over to Alicia. Once in Alicia's arms, Gracie shifts until she's sitting on her hip, wrapping her arms around Alicia's neck and resting her head on Alicia's shoulder. She's clearly getting sleepy, and Alicia notes that it's close to her nap time.

"We've got to run, guys. See you later." She and Gracie both wave good-bye to Carter and Jim, and she turns and continues her walk. They head, as Jim had correctly guessed, to Memorial Field.

When Alicia gets there, Gracie still on her hip, she quickly moves past the area where most of the graves are. There is one grave that is set apart from the rest, under a large tree on the edge of the field. She moves towards that one, seeing Nathaniel sitting on the ground, back against the tree, staring at the solitary grave.

They pass a small patch of wildflowers, and Gracie asks, "Mama, Gwacie down pwease?"

Alicia stops, putting Gracie down on her feet. She immediately goes to the flowers and pulls a few of them, gripping them tight in her small fist. She looks up at Alicia and says, "For Daddy."

With a smile, Alicia picks Gracie back up, and they once again head towards Nathaniel. When they get close, Alicia puts Gracie down. Gracie keeps going, getting to Nathaniel as quickly as her short legs will allow. "Daddy!"

Nathaniel looks up, definitely not surprised to see them here. Alicia smiles as Gracie offers him the flowers. "For you, Daddy. For bwother."

Nathaniel takes the rapidly wilting flowers and pulls Gracie into his lap, hugging her tight to him. "Thank you, little Bug." Alicia walks over and joins them, settling next to him on the ground. She rummages through the bag to pull out a small blanket, which she spreads on the ground in front of them.

In moments, Gracie is asleep in his arms. Alicia carefully extracts her and puts her on the blanket. She murmurs something, and Alicia places a stuffed dinosaur, courtesy of Zoe, next to her. Gracie grabs the toy and curls up in a little ball, quickly falling back to sleep.

While Alicia was settling Gracie for her nap, Nathaniel got up and placed the flowers in front of the small headstone he was looking at before, the headstone that marks Lucas' grave. He returns to Alicia's side, dropping back to the ground next to her. She reaches out and takes his hand, entwining their fingers.

Eventually, Alicia breaks the silence, knowing that once asleep, Gracie can sleep through a cannon blast. "I can't believe it's been two years."

"I know." He sighs. "I still miss him, miss the boy he was, you know?"

"I do know." She squeezes his hand.

"He'd be 28 by now. How is it possible that he was only 26 when he died, Alicia? He'd been through so much, he just seemed so much older than that."

She slides closer to him, and he raises his arm for her to nestle into his side. Once she's close, he wraps his arm around her, and she drops her head to his shoulder. "I remember when I first met him. He was not quite eight, and I was not quite nineteen," she smiles against his shoulder, "I must have looked impossibly young, because I remember him latching onto me and dragging me away to check out his toys."

He laughs. "You _were _impossibly young then, Alicia. Hell, compared to me, you still are. I'm surprised the Bug doesn't think I'm her grandfather."

She pokes him in the side. "Stop that, Nathaniel. And as sweet as it is for you to call me 'impossibly young,' at 39, I definitely don't feel that way."

He snorts. "Talk to me when you're 57."

"Touché." She wraps her arms around his waist. Knowing that he's very comfortable with being older than she is, she can't help but tease him a little. "For what it's worth, I'd say you do pretty well for an old man."

She can almost feel him roll his eyes. "Thanks." He pauses. "Jailbait."

"You're welcome." In a conciliatory gesture, she leans up and kisses his neck.

Before she can pull away, he turns his head and catches her lips with his. The kiss starts out playful but quickly deepens into something a lot more heated. Just as she feels him start to shift her to down onto her back on the ground, she hears a small whimper from Gracie. They break apart, both breathing hard.

They look over at Gracie, whose little forehead is furrowed in her sleep. She whimpers a little again, clearly having a bad dream. He reaches out and scoops her up, stuffed dinosaur, blanket and all, and puts her in his lap. She mumbles, "Daddy," and immediately curls into his chest with a sigh, her forehead smoothing out.

Alicia reaches over and brushes a lock of hair out of Gracie's eyes, and she drops a kiss on top of her head. Then, she nestles back into Nathaniel's side, returning her head to his shoulder after pressing a quick, chaste kiss to his lips. Any questions she has about whether or not, later on tonight, they'll continue what was just interrupted are put to rest when she feels his free arm slide down her back. He pulls the back of her t-shirt loose from her cargo pants, and he slips his hand underneath. His palm stretches out flat against her lower back, and a few fingers wander under the waistband of her pants.

They sit there like that for a long time, her arms going back around his waist. They go quiet, the only sounds around them being the breeze through the canopy of leaves above them and the sound of Gracie's muffled breathing against his chest.

Eventually, his voice softly breaks the silence. "Alicia?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

She looks up at him. "For what?"

He smiles. "Pretty much everything for the last twenty years."

"You're welcome. And Nathaniel? Thank you, too."

"For what?" He lifts an eyebrow at her.

"Same thing."

He presses a kiss to her forehead. "I love you, Alicia Washington Taylor."

"I love you back, Nathaniel Taylor." She rests her head back on his shoulder, and they sit like that until Gracie wakes up, just enjoying each other and the quiet morning.


End file.
